Box Score Glendale, Ariz.- In a game that was close through the first 28 minutes, No. 8 Arizona Christian controlled the final 12 minutes to earn the win against No. 17 Hope International on Saturday afternoon. Senior Micah Bradford scored a game high 16 points.
- Game score: Arizona Christian - 80, Hope International - 64
- Records: Arizona Christian - 22-3, 10-3 GSAC, Hope International - 16-6, 9-4 GSAC
- NAIA Top 25 ranking: Arizona Christian - 8, Hope International - 17
- Location: ACU Events Center, Arizona Christian University, Glendale, AZ
- After the Royals scored first, Bradford drained a triple for the first ACU lead
- HIU went back in front and held the top score until Davis threw down a dunk
- Hope International held a brief lead at the 12 minute mark
- Johnson connected on a three pointer and ACU kept the lead through the half
- Bradford was the game's lone double digit scorer in the first 20 minutes (11)
- The Firestorm shot 56.5% from the floor
- After the break, HIU forced ties at 46-46 and 49-49
- Gonzalez dialed in from downtown straight away to jump start ACU on a 10-0 run with 12 minutes left
- Nine points with 8:43 remaining was as close as the Royals would creep through the final buzzer
- ACU extended out as large as a 19 point advantage
Thoughts from Coach Rutter
"This is a great game just to see how much we've improved since last time we played Hope in November. It is a different team. Our guys have really been locked into scouting reports and did a great job executing defensively today. We shot the ball well and took great shots but just turned it over way too much in the first half. We did a much better job in the second half and our decision making continues to improve. Dom came in and gave us a big lift and that opened the game up. We tightened up defensively after that and kept the lead. We did a good job on Neal and Garcia. Several guys guarded them, but Micah and AJ particularly were locked in."
Up Next
The Firestorm will venture out to California again next week. They play at Vanguard on Thursday with a start time of 7:30 pm (Pacific)/ 8:30 pm (Arizona).
