The Master’s University men’s basketball team lost a very close 82-77 exhibition game against NCAA Division II Biola Saturday night in The MacArthur Center.

Kaleb Lowery had a game-high 34 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Mustangs, who shot 25-of-62 (39%) from the field, including 9-of-27 (33%) from 3-point range.

However, the Eagles hit 28-of-58 (48%) from the field and were better than 51% in the first half.

“Two games in a row where we are missing some easy layups, and defensively we were nothing but average,” said head coach Kelvin Starr. “They were more poised than us down the stretch. And we didn’t execute down the stretch. We need to figure out how to closeout games.”

Biola’s strong shooting in the first half enabled them to lead by as much as 13 before settling for a 44-36 lead at the intermission. But for the second game in a row, the Mustangs proved strong coming out of the locker room, erasing the deficit and tying the game twice before the Eagles pulled away at the end.

A 3-pointer by Ty Harper with 31 seconds to play cut the difference to just one 78-77. TMU was forced to foul, but Biola made all four of the free throws in the closing seconds to come away with the five-point win.

“We’ve got to get back to practice on Monday and get ready for the games that count,” Starr said. “We’ve got a very tough schedule ahead of us and it starts on the road.”

The Master’s will travel to Oklahoma City for two games on Thursday and Friday of next week. The first game will be against Oklahoma City University starting at 5 p.m., and then a 3 p.m. start against Our Lady of the Lake University.