Phoenix, AZ- In the second meeting of new Arizona rivals, Arizona Christian came out on top 97-86 in a back and forth game with Ottawa (AZ) on Saturday night.  Senior Sam Finley paced the Firestorm offense with his ACU best performance of 31 points.  Junior Callum Lawson followed with 21 points.

Sophomore Lawrence Combs opened the scoring before the Spirit (2-7) rattled off the next seven points for the first lead change of the night.  Freshman Johannes Menzel buried a three pointer to tie the game at 9-9.  But OUAZ used a seven point run to grab the lead back with 15 minutes to play.

About eight minutes later, Finley knocked down a three pointer for a brief lead.  The teams exchanged leads and ties until they were tied at 36-36.  But the Firestorm (7-1) outscored the Spirit 10-5 to close out the half with a 46-41 edge.

Finley topped everyone with 15 points at the break.

OUAZ took their first lead of the second half just over three minutes into action.  Once again the sides traded ties and lead changes until they reached a 72-72 tie with 8:52 to go.  Ten ties and nine lead changes took place on the evening.

With Finley and Lawson carrying the Firestorm down the stretch, ACU outscored OUAZ 25-14 to win the game.

Behind the combined 52 points from Finley and Lawson, Senior Matt Willkomm locked in 17 points and Menzel delivered 14 points on 5-6 shooting (including 2-3 from three point country).

ACU held the slightest edge of 36-35 in rebounding.  The difference in the game was at the free throw line where Arizona Christian converted 21 of 25 attempts versus a 10-13 effort by Ottawa (AZ).

The Firestorm will be off next week to concentrate on finals before returning to the court on Wednesday, December 13.  ACU will take on NCAA DII Western New Mexico in Silver City, NM, at 6:00 pm.