Redlands, Calif. – Arizona Christian outscored Pacifica College (1-10), 10-4, in the last four minutes of the second half of its 63-57 victory at the 64th Lee Fulmer Men's Basketball Tournament at the University of Redlands (Calif.), Friday, Dec. 2. The game does not count on ACU's record or in the team and individual statistics and is listed as an exhibition game for ACU because Pacifica is listed on the NAIA's list of non-countable schools.
In Saturday, Dec. 3 consolation final action, ACU plays for fifth-place at the Redlands Tournament on the University of La Verne (1-4) at 4:30 p.m. Phoenix time. The game may be viewed on both Live Stats and Live Video from Currier Gym at Redlands (http://livestats.prestosports.com/redlands). Redlands, which beat UC-Santa Cruz, 92-76, Friday night, faces Pomona-Pitzer, an 80-79 winner over Chapman College, in the tournament championship game at 8:30 p.m. Arizona time, and Chapman meets UC-Santa Cruz for third place at 6:30. The ACU-La Verne battle for fifth place precedes the third-place game, and American Sports University meets Pacifica for seventh place at 2:30 Arizona time.
Senior guard Houston Friend (Phoenix, Ariz./Scottsdale Christian Academy H.S.) totaled a season-high 14 points, all in the second half, hitting 4 of 7 three-point shots, and also grabbed 3 rebounds. Junior guard A.J. Koch (Tucson, Ariz./Flowing Wells H.S.) added 13 points, 8 in the second half, with one three-pointer, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, and sophomore forward Daniel Cornelius (Phoenix, Ariz./Phoenix Christian H.S./Vanguard University) finished with 11 points on 5 of 7 shots, and gathered 4 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Senior guard Josh Cole (Phoenix, Ariz./Westview H.S.) contributed 4 points and 4 assists.
ACU's bench players outscored Pacifica's, 26-4. Off ACU's bench, freshman forward Jared Culbert (Henderson, Nev./Coronado H.S.) added 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and one steal, and sophomore guard Jordan Augustine (West Jordan, Utah/Waterford H.S.) scored 5 points and grabbed 2 rebounds. Sophomore guard Derek James (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Alta
Loma H.S./Vanguard University) tossed in 4 points, led ACU with 5 rebounds and had 2 assists and one steal.
Four Pacifica players scored in double figures, led by guard Quincy Spencer with 16 points. Spencer also hit one three-pointer, led all rebounders with 11 for the game, passed 2 assists and stole the ball 3 times from ACU. Terry Beazley, Jerry Santos, and Craig Levinson each scored 10 points for Pacifica. Levinson made 2 three-pointers, gathered 7 rebounds, blocked a shot and had one steal, and Santos had 6 rebounds and a steal. Beazley passed off 4 assists, gathered 4 rebounds and stole the ball twice.
Arizona Christian shot an excellent .565 (13-23) in the first half and .500 from the field for the game (23-46), made 7 of its 20 three-pointers (.350) and 10 of 18 free throws (.556) and committed 15 turnovers which Pacifica turned into 24 gift points. Pacifica shot .434 from the field (23-53), made 3 of 9 from beyond the three-point arc (.333) and 8 of its 12 free throws (.750). Pacifica out-rebounded ACU, 37-26, committed 18 turnovers, and stole the ball from ACU eight times.
Pacifica scored 10 consecutive points and led 30-21 with 5:31 left in the first half, but ACU countered with its own 10-0 streak and led 31-30 at halftime. The Firestorm led 37-32 with 17:33 left in the second half, but Pacifica tied the score at 39-39. The score was tied four times in the second half and nine times in the game, with the last tie at 53-53 coming with 4:15 left to play. ACU outscored Pacifica, 10-4, the rest of the way and pulled out the 63-57 victory. Koch scored 4 of ACU's points during the game-deciding run, and Cornelius drilled a three-pointer with 2:34 left, giving the Firestorm a 59-53 lead. Friend sealed the game with two free throws with 23 seconds left.
