Behind
Ty Harper's career-high 43 points, The Master's men's basketball team went to overtime to defeat the Hope International Royals 95-88 Friday in Darling Pavilion in Fullerton, Calif.
Harper shot 12 of 25 (48%) from the field, including four 3-pointers, and hit 15 of his 17 free throws to lead the Mustangs (22-7).
TMU clung to a 38-37 lead at the half, despite the fact that, as a team, the Mustangs shot just 36% from the field while HIU hit 46%. Harper made seven of the team's 11 buckets to get 22 points before the break.
"Harper was just phenomenal tonight, throughout the game," said TMU Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "And Kaleb (Lowery) also played a great game for us. But the key difference for us may have been in the first half when we got into foul trouble. We had some guys get off the bench and really contribute on both ends of the floor. That was huge for us."
Hope opened up the second half on a 7-0 run to go up 44-38. They increased it to a 7-point lead with 12:22 to play, but then The Master's went on a 7-0 run of their own, punctuated by a three from Harper, to tie it at 61-61.
The game went back-and-forth, with neither team getting more than a 3-point lead, before ending regulation tied at 81-81.
Then in the overtime, it was the Royals who clung to a 1-point lead with 2:14 to play. That's when the Mustangs got buckets from Harper and
Kaleb Lowery, plus they hit their free throws, to pull away down the stretch for the 7-point win.
"At the end of the day it was our ability to get downhill and get to the free throw line," Starr said.
Jordan Caruso finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, with Lowery getting the double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
"Caruso was really huge in the second half," Starr said. "He got to the rim and attacked the hoop. He was just so solid at the right time and got key baskets for us."
No. 2-seed The Master's will now face No. 1-seed Arizona Christian for the GSAC Tournament Championship. Both teams shared the regular-season title and split their games this year. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT in Fullerton.
"It's always fun to play for a championship," Starr said.
