The Master’s University men’s basketball team came up just a bit short, 75-77, on Tuesday, March 4 at home against the No. 2 Arizona Christian Firestorm in the GASC Championship final.

The Master’s jumped out quickly, going on an 11-0 run to open the game. ACU didn’t get on the board until 6:17 had passed in the game. And while the Firestorm got to within four points in the next five minutes, TMU would pull away, catching threes from Deondre Earley and Deaken Stangl.

The Mustangs took a 39-34 lead into the locker room at the half.

That lead stayed under five points for the first 8:28 of the second half, when ACU’s Ese Onakpoma’s layup gave the Firestorm their first lead of the game.

But that lead didn’t last. Good free throws from Miles Mendes and a Stangl layup put The Master’s back on top.

The lead would switch back and forth and was tied several times, until the moment that started with 4.6 seconds on the clock.

“It was a classic game, we just came out on the wrong end of it,” Coach Kelvin Starr said. “You do this long enough, you’re going to be on the wrong end of this at some point. It’s a game of inches sometimes. But I’m proud of my team. They really competed tonight. We were really good those last three or four minutes, but … it hurts.”

Stangl had a career-high 20 points to lead the Mustangs in scoring, followed by Kaleb Lowery’s 14 and Moore’s 12. Miles Mendes had a career-high 12 rebounds to lead the team.

“I would say hands down this is the best game (Miles Mendes has) had since he’s been here,” Starr said. “And I thought Deaken played really well too. Hopefully they can carry that on to nationals.”

The Mustangs will have a week-and-a-half before the start of the NAIA national tournament. TMU is hoping to return to Kansas City, the final site for the national championship. Last year The Master’s got knocked out in the Round of 16 in the final seconds by the eventual champion Freed-Hardeman.

Four teams, including The Master’s, will play in The McArthur Center in the first round of the NAIA national tournament on March 14. Those two games will be played at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. March 15th’s second round will tip-off at 6 p.m.

For more information visit GoMustangs.com.