The Master’s University men’s basketball team had a chance with three seconds to play to get the ball through the basket, but both chances fell short as the Arizona Christian Firestorm defeated the Mustangs 96-95 to win the Golden State Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship.

“It was heartbreaking to lose that game,” said TMU head coach Kelvin Starr. “But sports is like that. I feel bad for the guys. They came back, they competed, it’s just tough. That final shot could have bounced just a little differently and it would have been us celebrating on the court.”

Ty Harper backed up his 43-point performance in Friday’s semifinal with 37 in the championship game.

The first half started strong for the Mustangs (22-8). The team hit 17 of 30 (57%) from the field, highlighted by Harper’s 9 of 13 for 24 points. They also hit 6 of 14 from 3-point range and 11 of 15 from the free throw line.

They even got a half-court buzzer-beater from Jaren Nafarette to help with the locker room celebration.

TMU led 51-44 at the break.

After a Caden Starr 3-pointer made it 63-56 Mustangs with 14:30 to play, the Firestorm went on a 31-19 run to lead 87-81 with 4:30 to go. A 3-pointer from Harper followed by a pair of free throws from Deon Earley put ther Mustangs back on top 91-89 with exactly two minutes to play.

Free throws by ACU tied it at 91-91, but another bucket from Earley but TMU back on top, only to be tied once again by an ACU layup.

Then, after a Mustangs timeout, Kamrin Oriol drove into the paint to get the layup and put The Master’s back up by two with 28 seconds left.

Plenty of time for the Firestorm, to get the ball into Dennis Flowers, III’s hands, where he drove the lane, made the bucket to tie it and got fouled. He made the free throw, setting up the last-second effort by TMU, only to fall short.

Behind Harper’s 37 points, GSAC Co-Player of the Year Kaleb Lowery scored 21 and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds. Kamrin Oriol added nine off the bench.

“They all (Mustangs players) put so much effort into this,” Starr said. “It’s not easy to do, win a championship. It takes a lot of work and dedication and sacrifice. But credit to ACU, they made the plays down the stretch. Now we will get ourselves ready for the national tournament.”

The NAIA will announce the 64 teams heading to the national championship tournament during the selection show which will air on YouTube this Thursday at 4 p.m.