BILLINGS, Mont. --
Avery Jackson scored 26 and
Quincy Phillips had 25 as The No. 10-seed The Master's defeated No. 7-seed Lewis-Clark State (ID) 88-80 in the first round of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship tournament.
The Mustangs (22-9) shot 53% from the field, including six 3-pointers (33%) and drained 24 of 29 free throws (83%).
Both teams shot very well in the first half, with Master's hitting 15 of 26 (58%) compared to LC State's 48%. Both also had the same number of rebounds (12), with the Warriors hitting seven 3-pointers and the Mustangs bench out-scoring LCSC 25-15.
The Warriors took a 40-36 advantage into the locker room.
"I thought we showed some good resiliency," said TMU Head Coach Kelvin Starr. "But we didn't play a very good defensive first half at all. We weren't elite defensively."
The difference truly came in the second half, when LC State found themselves in early foul trouble, sending The Master's to the free throw line. In the final 20 minutes, TMU hit 21 of 25 free throws, while the Mustangs comitted just six fouls resulting in the Warriors going 3 for 5 from the line.
With 10:31 to play and the game tied 58-58, Master's went on a 9-0 run, with seven of those points coming from the line.
LC State was able to get to within four points twice in the final eight minutes of play, but every time TMU pulled away, hitting those free throws when they need to, getting the 8-point win.
"We tried to attack them more in the second half across the board," Coach Starr said. "We have two very quick guards (Jackson and Phillips) and they attacked the basket. And they also created stuff for other people too. They did a really good job and just the effort defensively through most of the second half was a big upgrade from the first half."
Tiago Soares finished with 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Brayden Miner hit three 3s to finish with nine points.
The Master's will play No. 2-seed Rocky Mountain College Saturday in Round Two at 3 p.m. PT. The Battlin' Bears, ranked No. 11 in the final NAIA Top 25 poll and the champions of the Frontier Conference with a 29-3 overall record, defeated the Simpson Redhawks 94-59 Friday in the other first round game.
