Phoenix, AZ- On Tuesday evening, Arizona Christian started flat but rallied with a nice run to knock off SAGU American Indian 98-89.  Senior Matt Willkomm scored a game high 28 points.  Junior Callum Lawson impressed again with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

The game opened with three ties and two lead changes in the first 10 points.  Tied 5-5, the Warriors (0-4) grabbed the lead with a free throw and turned their advantage into as large as a 12 point lead.  The Firestorm (2-0) appeared to be playing flat without a lot of energy.

But down 30-18 with 7:53 left in the first half, ACU woke up and responded with a 13-0 run in just over three minutes to retake the lead.  Willkomm buried a three pointer to send the Firestorm in front.  In the final almost eight minutes of the first half, Arizona Christian outscored SAGU American Indian 30-11 heading to the break with a 48-41 cushion.

Willkomm was already at 17 points after the first 20 minutes.

Just over two minutes into the second half, ACU held a 14 point edge.  However, the Warriors went on a 25-10 run of their own and took a 68-67 advantage with 12:12 to play.

After an ACU time out, Lawson kissed two points off the backboard on a nice feed from Senior Andy Sessions and Arizona Christian moved to the higher score for the rest of the night.  The lead swelled to 15 points before ending in single digits.

Behind Willkomm's 28 points and seven assists, Freshman Johannes Menzel scored 16 points.  Sophomore Lawrence Combs added 14 points.  Senior Patson Siame joined in the rebounding fun with 10 boards.

Head Coach Jeff Rutter offered these thoughts afterwards, "Though it's not pretty basketball right now, this has been a really good opportunity for some of our young inexperienced guys to get some opportunities.  These are valuable lessons at this point in the year.  We had to come back from double figures, take control of the game, then make plays and finish the game when they kept coming at us.  I think we could be a very special team offensively, but we've been plagued by turnovers in each game we've played in.  Mostly unforced turnovers, just lots of poor decisions.  I'm confident that will continue to improve in that area."

Coach Rutter added, "We are not very good team at this point and I haven't really seen a willingness to defend.  That's what concerns me the most.  Lack of passion, communication, and effort in that area has made things difficult for us.  It will be a long week next week if we don't figure that out in a hurry.  When we are the aggressor, we show flashes but we have not sustained that very long so far."

Speaking of next week, the Firestorm will hit the road for two inter-state matchups.  On Tuesday, they will get their first look at Ottawa (AZ).  The game versus Ottawa will be played at Willow Canyon High School in Surprise at 7:00 pm.  On Thursday, they will head to Mesa Community College for game with Benedictine-Mesa at 7:30 pm.