Hope pulls away late from TMU Men's Basketball

No. 12 TMU Men's Basketball entered the final seven-and-a-half minutes tied with Hope International University before the Royals pulled away late to take the Golden State Athletic Conference game, 72-66.
 
"As a team defensively, we were good enough to win but we have to start putting the ball in the hoop," Master's Head Coach Kelvin Starr said. "We can't go 6-of-25 from 3-point range and beat any GSAC team."
 
Hope held a narrow lead for much of the first half, leading by as many as eight, before Master's battled back to within two going into halftime after Thomas Lowery's tip-in beat the first-half buzzer.
 
TMU then took its first advantage of the game early in the second half on a Kaleb Lowery layup. A Kaleb Lowery triple then gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the game, four points, before the Royals re-took the lead.
 
A putback and 3-pointer from Jaden Graham briefly restored TMU's advantage before he then tied the game with a made free throw. But the Royals promptly went on an 8-0 run to take control of the game and hand the Mustangs' their second-straight GSAC defeat.
 
"It went back-and-forth," Starr said. "They took it, we took it, for like a two-minute stretch back-and-forth and then with five minutes to go we had a bad turnover that led to a shot at the other end. They then beat our press with a lob over-the-top which was a dagger."
 
"One positive was we had fewer turnovers in the second half," Starr continued. "We took care of the ball better."
 
Kaleb Lowery put on a dominant display with 29 points on an efficient 12-for-15 shooting, to go along with nine rebounds. Graham was the only other Mustang to score in double figures with his 12 points in 13 minutes off the bench. No other TMU player scored more than five points.
 
"Kaleb and Jaden played good games offensively," Starr said. "Jaden also had that big block. He can be a real threat when he shoots the ball like that."
 
Master's (6-3 overall, 1-3 GSAC) returns to The MacArthur Center on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game against West Coast Baptist College before resuming conference play on Dec. 17 against Life Pacific University.