Game Recap By Mason Nesbitt, TMU Sports Information Director

As a capacity crowd filed out of The MacArthur Center on Thursday night, coach Kelvin Starr slung his arm around Hansel Atencia and poked a little fun at his star point guard.

“Everything he says is a lie,” the coach playfully interjected into an interview after The Master’s University men’s basketball team beat Azusa Pacific, 82-68, in an exhibition game in which the Mustangs played for long stretches like their newly minted NAIA No. 1 ranking was the truth.

Atencia scored a team-high 20 points for Master’s, which saw a large early lead trimmed to two at halftime before stepping on the accelerator.

It seemed that in the second half’s most crucial moments, the Mustangs always made the play. Like this one:

With six minutes remaining, Brock Gardner battled for an offensive rebound and fed Tim Soares behind the arc. The 6-foot-10 center, who made better than 45 percent of his threes a year ago, nailed a 3-pointer to wild applause. Then Atencia stole the ball on Azusa’s next possession and rushed the length of the floor for a reverse layup and a 68-54 lead.

“I saw a one-on-one kind of play and I knew I could take that guy,” Atencia said.

The Mustangs weren’t always so decisive. After Master’s built a 16-point lead at the 10-minute mark of the first half, the Cougars switched to a 2-3 zone.

TMU’s offense stagnated, and Azusa responded with a 10-0 run, eventually cutting the deficit to 34-32 at the half. The Mustangs knew what needed to change.

“I think once the ball started moving against the zone it opened everything up a little bit,” Starr said. And, the Mustangs began hitting shots and continued to display exceptional depth. Everyone pitched in.

Soares finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Gardner added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“Brock set the tone,” Starr said. “He made some big time plays.”

Delewis Johnson had nine points and 10 rebounds as the Mustangs won the battle on the boards (54-48) against a team that featured 6-10 center Selom Mawugbe, a force to be reckoned with.

Mawugbe, who attended high school in the Santa Clarita Valley, where Master’s is located, set an APU single season record for blocked shots a year ago.

Thursday, the stat belonged to the Mustangs.

Soares and Gardner each swatted four shots and Michael Taylor and Jordan Starr brought the number to 10. The Mustangs held the Cougars to 29% shooting from the floor.

“I thought defensively as a whole we were awesome,” Starr said. “To hold a team that’s that good to below 30% was great. If we do that all year, we’re going to be in good shape.”

The night’s excitement wasn’t limited to game action.

The evening also featured a halftime contest with a prize of free Chick-fil-A for a year. A fan couldn’t complete the on-court challenge in the allotted time, but that was about the crowd’s only shortcoming.

“The student section was awesome,” Soares said. “A lot of energy throughout the whole gym. Hopefully everyone can come back again.”

The Mustangs will travel to Irvine on Saturday for an exhibition with NCAA Division 2 Concordia University Irvine. They’ll return to Bross Court on Nov. 10.