Christmas came early for The Master’s University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kelvin Starr. Two gifts inside of one game as No. 10 TMU defeated No. 2 College of Idaho 71-67 in The MacArthur Center to give Starr his 300th career head coaching victory.

Starr earned 104 wins in five years as the head coach at San Diego Christian College, and has added another 196 in the eight-plus years at the helm of the Mustangs.

“I’m blessed to do what I do,” said Starr after the game. “And the support of people back when I first started coaching. I got hired by David Jeremiah as a 30 year old, someone who believed in me, who supported me and supported out program at San Diego Christian. And then here, John MacArthur bringing me in here and believing in me and supporting me and understanding what was required to be successful. And then guys like Paul Berry, who was involved at both institutions, is really the main reason I came to the U.S. in the first place back in the day as a player in 1992. And then a whole collection of assistant coaches, players, a lot of All-Americans. It’s all part of it. And my job is I get the blessing of trying to bring it all together. It’s fun, it’s rewarding and it’s bigger than just wins. It’s a whole list of memories that you create as you see young men grow in their spiritual walk and the lessons you learn through hoops. And then culminating tonight with a massive win against a team that you have the utmost respect for.”

College of Idaho, ranked No. 2 on the NAIA Top 25 poll this week, won the national championship two season ago after going 36-1 on the season. Last year the Yotes went 32-4 and were defeated in the semifinals of the national tournament by Langston. They came to the MacArthur Center 2-0 on the young season.

“I have the utmost respect for Colby (Blaine, head coach at College of Idaho) and his program,” Starr said. “He’s done better than everybody. That’s a fact. He’s won [86 percent] of his games since he started coaching. And even his willingness to come down and play us in our gym and to take on that challenge is a class act in and of itself. And they’re just really, really good. So [the 300th win] is very satisfying because of that. But I think we’re pretty good too. I think we are a really good defensive team this year and we’re playing with a lot of passion. It’s a huge win, but it’s just a step for us. You can enjoy the moment, but then we’ve got to get ready for the next game, no matter who we’re playing, because we’ve put ourselves into a position to be relevant. Now we want to stay there.”

Both teams showed elite defenses, with the Yotes holding the Mustangs to under 39% from the field and only 9 of 33 (27%) from 3-point range. But The Master’s also held College of Idaho, a team that averaged 93.5 points per game so far this season, to just 67 points and under 35% from the field.

The first half was a game of runs as both teams showed flashes offensively but were then shut down by the other team’s defense. TMU jumped out to a 16-11 lead, only to see the Yotes go on a 16-2 run to go up 27-18. The Mustangs then countered with a 13-3 run to go up 31-30 in the final minute of the first half before settling for a 32-31 College of Idaho halftime lead.

The second half saw COI grab a 6-point lead at 39-33or , but that’s when The Master’s offense awoke and roared. TMU went on a 20-4 run in just over four minutes of action to go up by 10 at 53-43. The Yotes got to within five with 7:38 to play, only to see the Mustangs pull away again. Free throws down the stretch eventually drew College of Idaho to the 4-point difference before the clock struck 0:00.

Quincy Phillips led TMU with 21 points that included a career-high four 3-pointers. Kaleb Lowery scored 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds before fouling out, with Jazen Guillory netting 11 points and Kendall Moore 10.

For more information visit TMU Sports.