Avery Jackson had 26 points and a layup in the final 10 seconds as The Master’s University men’s basketball team defeated OUAZ 80-79 Thursday night, Jan. 15 in Surprise, Ariz.

Jackson’s bucket with eight seconds remaining gave TMU the lead for good after the teams traded leads for most of the second half.

“Really gutty win on the road tonight,” TMU Head Coach Kelvin Starr said. “We had to make some huge shots down the stretch and Caden and Avery both came up clutch.”

In the first half, the teams appeared to be evenly matched as The Master’s held a two-point lead entering the break despite their leading scorer, Quincy Phillips, being held to just three points. Jackson had 13 points in the first half along with three rebounds and Tiago Soares had 10 points to lead the way.

The Mustangs extended the first half lead to as much as 10 points but OUAZ narrowed the gap down to just two points entering the second half.

In a game that had 19 lead changes and the score tied at nine separate times, the final 20 minutes proved to be very tightly contested. The Spirit went on an 11-point run right after halftime to take a nine point lead but TMU rallied. Jumpers by Nate Boakye and Caden DeVries and Skyler Scull’s own 5-0 run got the Mustangs right back into the ball game.

Ottawa held a six-point lead with just 3:22 remaining but Jackson and Phillips closed the gap and then took the lead with 47 seconds left. OUAZ regained the advantage with 28 seconds left off a bucket of its own, but it was Jackson who sealed the deal with a layup with just eight ticks remaining.

The Master’s made 10 shots from distance and converted on 16 of its 17 free throw attempts, making all 12 attempts in the second half. DeVries had 10 points and five rebounds and Phillips chipped in nine points and five assists. Jackson totaled 12 rebounds with five of them being on the offensive glass.

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