Travis Yenor

The Master’s University men’s basketball team’s outstanding 2016-17 season continued Saturday afternoon when the Mustangs beat Arizona Christian (15-19, 2-10 GSAC) 102-85 on Bross Court.

So far this season, the Mustangs have crossed the century mark seven times.

Saturday’s win improved No. 23 TMU’s record to 20-4 overall and 9-4 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. Notably, this is TMU’s first 20-win season since 2011-12 when the Mustangs finished 20-16 (9-9 GSAC).

“We played a team tonight that has been through a lot of adversity this year,” commented first-year TMU head coach Kelvin Starr. “They were short on some key guys tonight and still battled for the entire game. Got to give Coach Rutter props. His guys played really hard.”

In a game where TMU led the entire way, six Mustangs finished the afternoon by scoring in double digits.

Freshman standout Travis Yenor highlighted TMU’s performance by notching his first double-double of the season (and his collegiate career, for that matter) with 21 points and 13 boards.

Hansel Atencia, who led TMU in scoring, finished the afternoon with 23 points and dished out a team-high nine assists.

Delewis Johnson scored 16 points and Reid Shackelford tallied 15. Timothy Soares chipped in with 11 points and two blocks, and Lawrence Russell scored 10 more.

Atencia, Soares, Shackelford, and Evan Jenkins each tallied two steals.

Collectively, the Mustangs went 38-79 (48%) from the field, 9-36 (25%) from behind the arc, and 17-21 (81%) from the charity stripe.

Next week, TMU will compete in its final two home games of the regular season. The Mustangs will host William Jessup on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Menlo next Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Following next Saturday’s game, the Mustangs will honor their three seniors (Reid Shackelford, Evan Jenkins, and Harrison White) in a special Senior Day ceremony.