Game Recap By Mason Nesbitt, TMU Sports Information Director

The way Brock Gardner saw it, William Jessup had been denying passing lanes all night, so a backdoor cut was just a matter of time.

With Master’s leading by two with a little over a minute remaining Thursday, that time came.

Gardner sprinted to the rim, caught a Michael Taylor pass and elevated, absorbing a foul and scoring the decisive basket in TMU’s 81-78 victory inside The MacArthur Center.

Gardner kept on moving, jogging to the sideline and slapping hands with TMU President John MacArthur in the first row.

He then stepped to the free throw line and temporarily gave the Mustangs a five-point cushion. But TMU’s 28th straight home win wasn’t secure until Darryl McDowell-White made one of his signature hustle plays.

Delewis Johnson, who otherwise played spectacularly, missed the front end of a one-and-one with four seconds remaining and TMU leading by one. McDowell-White challenged for the rebound, and the ball was ruled to have bounced off a Jessup player and out of bounds.

Gardner made two free throws on the ensuing possession and intercepted the Warriors’ full-court desperation pass right before the buzzer.

“At the end of the day, if you want to win the conference, you have to win these ones,” said TMU coach Kelvin Starr after what was an NAIA Top 25 matchup between the No. 6 Mustangs and the No. 25 Warriors. “The close ones.”

Gardner finished with 17 points, and McDowell-White added 16 points.

Johnson led the way with 21 points, taking over the game midway through the second half, attacking the basket with a string of powerful drives. He made 6-of-9 shots after the break, all from inside the arc.

The turning point in Johnson’s night came late in the opening period when Starr called a play to isolate Johnson, who promptly settled for a three-point shot that fell short.

“He was a little bit upset with me because he thinks I’m good at going downhill,” Johnson said. “He lit a fire under us at halftime, motivated us – especially me.”

With the victory, the Mustangs avoided losing back-to-back Golden State Athletic Conference games for the first time in roughly two years. They improved to 13-2 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

William Jessup fell to 11-4 and 2-1 in conference play. The Warriors entered the game having won six in a row and boasting the reigning NAIA D1 Player of the Week in Keith Phillips.

The senior forward made his presence felt Thursday, scoring 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting.

The Mustangs rotated a trio of players onto the 6-foot-5, 220-pound forward, but struggled to find an answer for a player who averaged 21.3 points a game coming in, eighth most in the country.

“He’s a tough matchup,” said Gardner. “A lot of his work is done off the ball, so you can’t take a second off when you’re guarding him. He’s always moving around, setting a screen, posting up. You have to be alert at all times.”

The teams traded leads 10 times in the first half, with neither able to extend an advantage beyond five points.

TMU trailed 37-36 at halftime, marking the second straight game in which the club fell behind after 20 minutes.

Monday, the Mustangs rose up and defeated a talented University of Calgary team down the stretch behind Hansel Atencia’s 26 points.

Thursday, Johnson did a lot of the heavy lifting. The senior wing scored nine straight TMU points during a two-minute span in the second half. With TMU leading by three with 11:06 on the clock, Johnson drove into the lane, spun by his defender and finished with his left hand through contact. He earned a free throw and made it.

“There were a couple minutes there where he put the game in his hands, the team on his back,” Gardner said. “He played great for us.”

Johnson’s and-1 was part of a 21-9 TMU run that built an 11-point lead with 6:36 to play. Johnson capped the spurt with an alley-oop pass to Taylor for a dunk.

But Jessup was far from finished. The Warriors answered with an 8-0 run to set the stage for Thursday’s late-game drama.

Here’s the box score.