A 14-point difference in the first half was all The Master's men's basketball team needed to come away with a 72-60 win over Benedictine Mesa Saturday in The MacArthur Center.
It was the Mustangs defense that made the difference in the first 20 minutes, holding the Redhawks to 6 of 25 (24%) from the field and just 1 of 10 from long range.
"I thought the defensive effort in the first half was obviously really good," Head Coach Kelvin Starr said. "We very much just got to stop taking lulls in games. We tend to take 3- or 4-minute stretches in the middle of games and just don't play as crisp as we need to. And we have to get better at that as we head towards the post season. We've got to keep learning in all these games."
TMU jumped out quickly against BenU, opening the game up with a 17-2 run in the first 5:11. That lead stayed in double digits through the half, going to the locker room up 32-18.
That lead quickly grew to over 20 points within the first 2:31 of the second half, climbing to as much as 25 points on three separate occasions. But the Redhawks started chipping away at that lead, going on a 28-10 run over a 10-minute period of time to get to within seven with 2:14 to play.Â
But a 3-pointer by
Kendall Moore, followed by a
Deondre Earley layup and a pair of free throws by Moore pushed the final margin of victory back up to double digits.
Kaleb Lowery had a team-high 21 points and nine rebounds, followed by Moore with 17 and
Caden Starr, going 4 for 10 from behind the arc, finishing with 14.
The team has now won 30 in a row at home in The MacArthur Center.
The Master's will be on the road Wednesday when they take on the Embry-Riddle Eagles in Prescott, Ariz. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. PT.
