PHOENIX, AZ– The 19th ranked Arizona Christian Firestorm men's basketball team stormed passed Menlo College by a final of 104-83, after Huntington University downed the University of Northern British Columbia 78-57 on day one of the Arizona Christian University Firestorm Classic II inside of Fultz Memorial Gymnasium in Phoenix, Arizona.

In game one, Huntington University came out strong against a young and undersized University of Northern British Columbia squad. At the half, Huntington led Northern British Columbia by a score of 35-23. Huntington shot 55% from the field, compared to 34% for Northern British Columbia in the first half of play.

In the second half, Northern British Columbia tried to put runs together, but could never overcome the deficit that Huntington made in the first half. Once again Huntington outscored their opponents 43-34 in the second half on their way to a 78-57 victory. With the win, Huntington improves to 11-3 on the season, while Northern British Columbia falls to 3-6 overall. Derek Hinen of Huntington led all scorers with 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting with six assists and three rebounds.

Arizona Christian hosted Menlo College in the night cap, and got off to a hot start before Menlo evened the score halfway through the first half. The two teams would go into the break with the Firestorm leading by the slim margin of 50-45. ACU shot over 60% in the first half, to just 45% for Menlo.

After a high scoring first half, Menlo cooled down while ACU continued to attack; outscoring the Oaks 54-38. The Firestorm shot 63% from the field, while Menlo was held to 42% shooting from the field. ACU shot 62% from the field for the entire game.

The Firestorm were led in scoring by Brandon Newman with 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting with two rebounds and one assist.

Day two of the New Year's Classic begins at 1:30pm on Tuesday with the first of four games. The first game features the Northern New Mexico College women against Huntington University from Indiana inside of the Fultz Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Arizona Christian University.