The Master's University men's basketball team completed a back-to-back sweep of San Diego Christian after staving off a Hawks' comeback bid, 63-60, in Golden State Athletic Conference play on Saturday.
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"Coach Dwayne Cosby had his guys ready to play tonight," Master's head coach
Kelvin Starr said of San Diego Christian's head coach. "They really competed all night and made it interesting down to the wire. We're happy to escape with the win."
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After running away with Friday's game in the second half, the Mustangs' fortunes after halftime were not the same on Saturday. TMU extended its 10-point halftime lead to a game-high 11 points with 14:34 left to play, but the Hawks fought back to tie the game at 55-55 with 5:29 on the clock.
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A couple of possessions later, though, a
Davian Brown layup regained the Mustangs' lead for good, as Master's held on down the stretch to win for the 11th-straight time against San Diego Christian (1-15 overall, 1-9 GSAC).
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"We really struggled to score in the second half, but we had a big tip-in by
Gavin Lloyd and two huge free throws on our last offensive possession by
Kaleb Lowery,"
Kelvin Starr said.
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The Hawks held the Mustangs to just 38.5% shooting from the field in the second half, including one-for-nine (11.1%) from 3-point range. Helping TMU's cause though was an overall 36-16 advantage in points in the paint and a 16-3 margin in second-chance points, as the Mustangs outrebounded the Hawks 39-25.
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Kaleb Lowery paced Master's with 24 points and eight rebounds.
Albert Matute was the next-highest TMU scorer, putting up nine points after making three of the Mustangs' four triples.
Gavin Lloyd tallied eight points and eight boards, while
Caden Starr added eight points and a team-high four assists.
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Master's (16-3, 5-3), currently on a seven-game winning streak, is scheduled to play Bethesda on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. inside The MacArthur Center, before returning to GSAC play on Friday and Saturday against fifth-ranked Arizona Christian (22-2, 8-0).
