The Master's men's basketball team took it on the chin Saturday, losing to the No. 10-ranked Arizona Christian Firestorm 63-59 in Glendale, Arizona.
The loss drops the No. 5 Mustangs (19-4, 7-2) down to a second-place tie with the Firestorm in the GSAC standings, one game behind conference-leading Hope International.
The loss also ends a 7-game win streak for TMU.
The Master's started out strong, grabbing an 8-2 lead in the first 3:40 of the game. But ACU settled in and created a run of their own, netting a 13-3 difference over the next seven minutes of game time to go up 15-11.
Moments later, with the Mustangs trailing again by four, the boys from California had a three-minute, 11-3 run again, capped off by a
Jaren Nafarrete 3-pointer, to take a 25-21 lead.
But in the final six minutes of the half, the home squad erased that lead and sent the teams into the locker room at the half with ACU up 32-31.
TMU came out in the second half the better of the teams, creating two 5-point leads in the first 10 minutes of action. But in the final 10 minutes, ACU had the upper hand, battling back to tie it at 59-59 with 1:18 to play. That's when a Firestorm missed shot turned into an offensive rebound and a tip-in, plus ACU hit a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to play, to come away with the 63-59 win.
The Mustangs finished the game having hit less then 33% from the field and just 5 of 22 (23%) from behind the 3-point line. By contrast, ACU hit 50% from the field and 6 of 17 from long range.
Kaleb Lowery led TMU with 14 points, followed by
Caden Starr with 13 and Quicny Phillips adding 10.
The Master's will be back in The MacArthur Center on Wednesday when the team hosts the Buccaneers from Park-Gilbert. At halftime will be a special celebration of the women's cross country team that brought home the university's first-ever NAIA team national championship back in November. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
