Santa Clarita, Calif. – The men's basketball team picked up a 90-88 win over The Master's College, on Tuesday night, picking up their first win on the young season. The Mustangs (1-1) had a chance to send the game into overtime or win with a three-pointer, but their last second shot failed to draw iron as the Golden Eagles (1-2) hung on for the victory.
In what proved to be a game of runs, the up-tempo, back-and-forth action resulted in 13 lead changes and 11 ties scores.
In the first 20 minutes of play, neither team held more than a six-point lead. But the Golden Eagles used an 8-4 run over the final 2:32 of the first half to take a 51-47 lead into the halftime break.
La Sierra came out of the locker room and quickly extended their lead to 56-47 in the opening minutes of half number two. But the Mustangs answered back quickly by putting together an 8-0 run over the next minute and a half, cutting the lead to 56-55.
The Master's eventually took the lead soon thereafter on a Philip Webb jump shot. With 9:31 to play, the Mustangs increased their lead to 73-68 on a Reid Shackelford three pointer. But that would prove to be the largest lead they would enjoy for the rest of the contest.
La Sierra used an 11-2 run over the next two minutes of play to regain the lead at 79-75 with 7:30 to play.
As was the case all evening, things swung back in favor of the Mustangs who answered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead for at the 4:42 mark of the second half.
Not to be outdone, La Sierra used a 7-0 run of their own to take the lead for good on an Andre Marquez lay-up that was preceded by a Gerald Williams made three-point shot.
With 1:48 remaining to play, and the shot clock down to two seconds, Marquez found Reynaldo Solorzano underneath the basket. Solorzano gathered the pass and released the ball just before the shot clock expired for a basket that pushed the lead to 88-83.
The Master's were still not done as Delewis Johnson connected on three-point shot from the top of the key that hit nothing but net and trimmed the Golden Eagles advantage to 90-88 with 44 seconds remaining.
But Solorzano factored in again with an enormous offensive rebound off of a missed three-point shot attempt, forcing the Mustangs to foul and send La Sierra to the foul line.
Unfortunately, a missed free throw by the Golden Eagles gave the Mustangs a chance for the tie or the win, but JP Webster's last second shot sailed over the basket and harmlessly fell to the floor and the final buzzer sounded.
La Sierra had four players who scored in double figures led by Marquez who finished with 23 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Williams added 22 points, seven assists, and three rebounds, including going 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Solorzano pitched in with 15 points (7-for-11 shooting), five rebounds, and three steals. Guard Nicholas Culver tallied 11 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
The Mustangs had five players who scored in double figures, led by 21 points from Johnson and 20 points from Webb.
The men's basketball team will return to the court next Tuesday when they travel to Chapman University, before heading to West Coast Baptist College for a two-day tournament next weekend.
