Box Score The Master's men's basketball team lost in the GSAC tournament semi-finals to Hope International 78-75 Friday night in Fullerton, Calif.
The Mustangs, who moved up to No. 25 in last Wednesday's NAIA Top 25 poll, took 38 3-point shots, and only 28 from inside the arc. TMU hit 11 of those 3's, and just 36% from the field overall.
"Hard loss," said Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "When you work hard for something for so long it makes it sting a little for sure."
The game took a turn against The Master's after the score was tied 25-25 with 7:17 to play in the first half. HIU closed out the half on a 14-8 run to take a six-point lead into the half.
TMU grabbed a pair of precarious one-point leads late in the second half off of clutch free throws by
Victor Ohia Obioha and
Caden Starr, only to see the Royals pull away by as much as seven.
Then, with 12 seconds to play and The Master's trailing 77-72,
Caden Starr was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. He hit all three free throws to make it a two-point game.
Jordan Starr, then fouled the Royals' Sebastian Castro, who hit one of his two free throws to make it a three-point difference. The Master's had two chances to tie it in the closing seconds, but could not find the bottom of the net, sending the Royals on to Saturday's championship game.
"Coaching can be the best job in the world and the worst," Starr said. "But at the end of the day it's the best because we get to pour into these guys lives on a daily basis."
Five different Mustangs scored in double figures, with
Caden Starr leading the way collecting 25 points.
Victor Ohia Obioha added 11 with a team high nine rebounds, while
Kaleb Lowery,
Jordan Starr, and T.J. Lowery added 10 points each.
Now the Mustangs await their fate to see if they get an at-large berth into the national championship tournament set to begin on Tuesday, March 7. The selection show will happen Thursday, March 2 at 5:00 p.m. PST and can be watched on the NAIA YouTube channel.
