Chandler, AZ- After a sluggish first half, Arizona Christian responded with a strong second half to beat Montana Tech 67-55 at the Cactus Classic on Wednesday.  With the victory, Head Coach Jeff Rutter recorded win number 100 in his coaching career.

A pair of three pointers- one by Senior Chris Sterling and the other by Junior Matt Willkomm- opened the scoring and gave ACU a 6-0 lead.  Senior Steven Loucks hit a jumper to make it a six point cushion again.

Following one tie at 8-8, the Firestorm (9-1) countered with an 11-2 run to hold a 19-10 edge with 8:12 remaining in the first half.

Unfortunately, Arizona Christian went cold shooting and managed just three points the final eight minutes of the half.  Meanwhile, the Diggers (6-7) found their rhythm and jumped up to a 28-22 half time advantage.

Sterling (11 points) converted exactly half of the ACU first half points as the Firestorm shot just 35 percent from the field.  Only two non-three point shots were made in the first 20 minutes.

Trailing 35-31 with 12:32 to go in the second half, Junior Andy Sessions cashed in a free throw and Junior Al Brown dialed in back-to-back three pointers to push ACU ahead 38-35.

At the 7:20 mark, MTT grabbed back the lead at 48-47.

Closing in on the five minute mark, Sterling notched a pair of free throws to tie the game and then give ACU back the top score.  The Firestorm remained in front the rest of the way.

A pair of free throws in the closing seconds by Sterling gave him a game high 19 points and allowed the Firestorm to more than double their first half production with 45 second half points.  Sophomore Carter Wilson, Senior Mishima Gray, and Brown all concluded their evenings with eight points.  Sterling also grabbed a game high nine rebounds.

The victory sent Coach Rutter into the 100 win club- now consisting of only two members in the ACU MBB archives.  The fifth year coach holds a 100-37 record (72.9%) as the head man of ACU men's hoops.  Congratulations Coach Rutter!

As for the Firestorm, they will return to the friendly confines of Fultz Memorial Gym for a game against the University of Calgary on Thursday.  Tip-off is set for 3:00 pm.