Behind a career night from two-time reigning GSAC Player of the Year Kaleb Lowery, The Master’s University men’s basketball team claimed the title for the conference regular season with a 75-66 win over Hope International Thursday night, Feb. 20 in The MacArthur Center.

Lowery, a two-time All-American, scored a career-best 32 points on nine of 12 shooting to lead the Mustangs (24-4, 12-2) to their second consecutive GSAC regular season championship.

“Kaleb was hands-down the MVP of the league tonight,” said TMU Head Coach Kelvin Starr. “He was phenomenal. Under control, poised, he’s grown up so much this year. I’m just really proud of his performance.”

Now TMU will have the No. 1 seed in the post-season tournament, which gets underway in The MacArthur Center on Saturday, March 1.

The Master’s jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first 10:12 of the game with a tenacious defense that held back a Royals team averaging better than 75 points per game.

With 5:19 to play in the half, that lead had grown to 32-12. And despite cutting it to 13 by the half, the Mustangs lead stayed at double digits until late in the game.

“I’m proud of how hard we competed,” Starr said. “Hope is a hard-nosed, tough and physical team. But I felt we dictated the pace of the game in the first 10 minutes and took control of it, and then we were able to maintain that cushion for the rest of the game.”

Quincy Phillips added 15 off the bench for the Mustangs with Kendall Moore netting 12.

A total of 59 fouls were called in the game, which resulted in 85 free throws put up by the two teams, a season high for any game the Mustangs played this year.

The Master’s will host the Embry-Riddle Eagles on Saturday, March 1 in the GSAC semifinals at The MacArthur Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. Should the Mustangs beat the Eagles, then TMU would play the winner of the Hope International/Arizona Christian game on Tuesday, March 4 for the GSAC Tournament Championship and an automatic berth to the NAIA National Championship Tournament.

For more information visit GoMustangs.com.