The Master's hit 12 3-pointers and were near perfect from the line in a 73-68 win over Vanguard Saturday in a game played at Orange Coast College.
The Mustangs trailed by three at the half, but used a 22-6 run in the first 4:39 of the second half that proved to be insurmountable for the Lions.
TMU came out intent on shooting the three, as 28 of their 56 shots were from behind the arc. The good news is they hit 12 of those long-distance shots, versus just one for the Lions.
"We had a great second half from the three," said Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "It was nice to finally have a stretch where we shot the ball at a good clip. The game was like a classic GSAC battle. Back and forth down the stretch. Credit to (Vanguard) Coach Soliday for having his guys ready to play tonight."
And they hit 15-of-17 free throws, critical in the end when the Lions were forced to foul.
Jordan Starr was 6-of-11 from the field and hit a team-high five 3s to lead the Mustangs with 17 points.
Kaleb Lowery added 14 with
Caden Starr,
Christian Sweazie and T.J. Lowery each scoring 11.
"I thought T.J. Lowery was huge tonight, Starr said. "He hit a huge timely three when the score was tied late in the second half. Jordan (Starr) played a great game also, hitting some huge threes in the second half."
The win keeps the Mustangs firmly in second place. With two games to play, TMU trails Arizona Christian by 2 1/2 games. So the best The Master's can hope for is second place, which would give them a first round bye in the GSAC post-season tournament.
But they will have to win their final two games at home next week.
Their quest will start Thursday night when Jessup University, just one game behind the Mustangs in the standings, will come to The MacArthur Center for a 7:30 tip-off. Then Menlo, currently in sixth place and needing to win to just get to the six-team conference tournament, will play The Master's at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
