Fullerton, CA- Playing as the fourth seed against fifth seed Westmont, Arizona Christian lead for 31 minutes but could not hold off the Warriors down the stretch and fell 74-65 in the first round of the GSAC Tournament on Friday.  Junior Chris Sterling topped ACU with 12 points.

A layup by Senior Jackson Helms opened the scoring.  A three pointer by the Warriors (21-9) gave them a brief 3-2 lead.  A layup from Senior Sharif Watson gave the Firestorm (22-8) a scoring edge they would enjoy the rest of the half.

After building as large as a nine point edge, ACU found themselves up 37-30 at the break.  The season leading scorers for both teams were also the leading scorers at the half.  Sterling had 10 points for the Firestorm while Westmont's Cory Blau topped everyone with 14 points.

Head Coach Jeff Rutter commented, "We played pretty well in the first half but felt like we left some points out there.  We were unable to get to the free throw line and missed a few open shots we usually make."

Six minutes and twenty seconds into the second half a three pointer by Senior Mike Navar from the right side gave ACU a cushion of 44-34- their largest advantage of the game.

But Westmont started to chip away from there.  At the 8:15 mark, the Warriors took their first lead since the first minute of the game.

With just over six minutes left to play, Senior Brandon Newman nailed a three pointer for a 55-54 lead.  Following Westmont moving back in front, Watson converted a jumper to knot the game at 59-59 with just under four minutes left.

However, the Warriors outscored the Firestorm 15-6 down the stretch for the win and the opportunity to face top seed Biola on Saturday.

Rutter added, "I think we lost our poise for a stretch in the second half.  We have several guys in foul trouble and a few breaks not go our way and just got too focused on those things out of our control.  The result was some missed free throws and lack of execution."

Finalizing his thoughts, Rutter said, "We did a great job on the offensive glass but didn't really convert many of those opportunities.  We need to keep growing in the way we respond to adversity."

Now the Firestorm can only sit back and wait for their positioning in the upcoming NAIA National Tournament.  Tournament teams and pairings will be announced on Wednesday at 6:00 pm (CT)/ 5:00 pm (AT).