Santa Clarita, CA- In a game that saw 20 three-pointers made and almost 200 points between the teams, offense was in no short supply.  The Masters, who are one of the top shooting teams in the country, jumped out to an early lead and the Firestorm could never come all the way back. 

Matt Willkomm had 19, Chris Sterling had 17, and Jason Smarr came off the bench to lead all scorers with 24 points, but the Firestorm (15-10, 2-10 GSAC)  couldn't quiet The Masters (20-4, 9-4 GSAC) attack and fell 102-85 on Saturday night. For a game that saw so many points scored, it took awhile for either team to get anything going as the first basket off the game wasn't scored until the 16:41 mark of the first half. From there, the Mustangs jumped out to a 13-4 lead before Coach Jeff Rutter called a timeout to get his guys refocused. The Firestorm used a three-pointer by Sterling, and six straight points from Smarr to climb back into the game at 20-13, but that was as close as they would get. Smarr, who had six threes in the game, closed the half hitting his last four attempts from behind the arc.

It didn't take as long in the second half for the teams to get going, as Lawrence Combs hit a jumper almost immediately to start the half. The Firestorm fought hard to stay in the game, but the Mustangs countered them every time they looked to be trying to get back in the game. All in all both teams shot the ball very well on the night, the Mustangs were able to come up with a few more crucial stops than the Firestorm which led them to a victory.

The Firestorm will now head home for two huge conference games against Hope International (Tuesday 7:30pm) and Vanguard (Saturday 2:00 pm).