Quincy Phillips had a career-high 37 points to lead The Master’s University men’s basketball team to a 95-69 win over the Park-Gilbert Buccaneers Wednesday night, Feb. 5 in The MacArthur Center.

The freshman made 14 of 23 from the field, including six of 12 from behind the arc to help him to his career night. He scored 22 of his 37 points in the second half.

“He’s got a great demeanor. He’s very talented,” said TMU Head Coach Kelvin Starr. “I think the best thing that he did tonight was how he responded defensively in the second half. And the scoring just came naturally as a result of focusing on the right things first.”

As a team the No. 5-ranked Mustangs (20-4, 8-2) hit 35 of their 66 shots (53 percent) and knocked down 16 of 35 (46 percent) from three-point range. Defensively, TMU held the Buccaneers to 40 percent shooting and grabbed the edge in rebounds over the first-year GSAC member 40-32. TMU also forced 12 turnovers that led to 20 points.

The Master’s jumped out to a 12-5 lead by the 4:14 mark of the first half. Park-Gilbert was able to tie it at 26-26 with 6:28 to play in the half, but the Mustangs went on a 15-2 run over the following three minutes of action to grab a 41-28 lead. By the time the horn sounded announcing the start of intermission, TMU was up 44-37.

That lead would expand quickly at the start of the second half, when The Master’s sprinted on a 19-4 run to go up by 22 with 12:51 to play. That lead would get up to as much as 34 before the Mustangs settled for the 26-point win.

“The first 12 minutes of the second half defensively were really good,” Starr said. “It was what it should be. The effort, energy, the passion required to defend at a high level. At halftime I challenged them. I said, ‘Look, we need to be better defensively.’ And they did a good job.”

Kaleb Lowery had his 12th double-double of the season scoring 19 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Caden Starr added 11 points with three three-pointers.

With the victory, the Mustangs moved to within a half-game of Hope International in the GSAC standings. The Royals play OUAZ on Thursday night, Feb. 6, followed by Arizona Christian on Saturday, Feb. 8.

The Master’s will host the Benedictine Mesa Redhawks on Saturday, Feb. 8 in The MacArthur Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.

For more information visit GoMustangs.com.