The Masters College took a big sigh of relief as the final horn sounded Thursday night in Santa Clarita. The Master College, which plays at the NAIA Division 1 level, and is undefeated and ranked #2 nationally at their level was pushed to the final buzzer, narrowly defeating the Golden Eagles 78-72. The game was close the whole way, with The Masters taking a 5 point lead into halftime 33-28. The Masters came out hot in the second half, making a 3 pointer on each of their first four possessions and extending the lead up to 12. But the Golden Eagles fought back, bringing the lead back to 6 on multiple occasions. Another second half surge saw The Masters again extend the lead to 15 with 10 minutes to go in the game. The Golden Eagles continued to fight and worked the game all the way back to a 2 point deficit with just over 2 minutes to go in the game. Some made free throws from The Masters extended the lead back to 5, but a basket and foul by Ivan Egbunike again cut the lead to 2 with 20 seconds left. The Masters were able to make some clutch free throws in the final seconds to hold on to a 6 point victory.

La Sierra had a balanced box score with five players finishing in double figures. Ivan Egbunike led the way with 16 points followed by Saladine Ganda with 14, Uriel Lejtman and DJ Everage both having 13, and Duane Darrett Jr finishing with 11. Jose Delacruz finished the game with 8 assists and no turnovers for the Golden Eagles.

The Golden Eagles again play back to back game this weekend, taking on two Adventist Colleges. Saturday night they host Walla Walla University at 7:30pm and Sunday against Washington Adventist at 4 pm.