Phoenix, AZ- Junior Mishima Gray dialed in an 8-12 shooting performance on his way to 26 points as Arizona Christian held The Master's in check with an 81-62 win.  Junior Chris Sterling added 21 points while Senior Mike Navar doubled up with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

To begin the afternoon, the Mustangs (4-15, 1-10 GSAC) came out as the hot shooting team with the Firestorm (18-5, 6-4 GSAC) playing catch up.  TMC grabbed a 5-0 early lead before ACU forced ties of 5-5 and 7-7.  The Master's extended out to a four point edge three times with the final time coming at 15-11 with 13:18 showing on the first half clock.

But Arizona Christian used a 9-0 run to grab the lead for good on the afternoon.  Gray started the run with five straight points- a layup and a three- before Senior Jackson Helms and Navar scored two points each.

A jumper by Navar moved the Firestorm into a double digit lead for the first time with 5:41 remaining before the break.  The score remained a double advantage for Arizona Christian for the remainder of the game.

At half time, ACU had raced out to a 44-25 edge.  Sterling rapid shot his way to 13 first half points.  Gray was just a point behind reaching his 12 points on 4-7 shooting.

The two teams continued to fire away in a shot clock optional format in the second half.  In the end they played to 37-37 draw in the final 20 minutes with ACU earning the win thanks to their 19 point first half cushion.

Gray added 14 second half points to reach his ACU career high 26 point total in just 19 minutes of court time.  Along with his overall 8-12 shooting from the floor, Gray hit 4-6 from behind the three point line and 6-6 from the free throw line.  Keyed by Gray's 26 and Navar reaching his 10 points, the ACU bench outscored the TMC bench 47-10.

For the Mustangs, they were led by 18 points from Kaleb Anderson and 12 rebounds by Philip Webb.

Head Coach Jeff Rutter said, "I'm very pleased with the win tonight.  It wasn't our best offensive game- but we did a good job defensively, rebounded well, and took care of the ball.  These are things we've been working on and it was great to see it executed tonight.  Mishima did a great job.  He had a great week of practice and played really well tonight."

On Tuesday, the Firestorm will host Westmont at 7:30 pm (AT) in Fultz Gym.  As for the Mustangs, they will head to Biola on Tuesday for a 7:30 pm tip (PT).