Phoenix, AZ- A terribly slow shooting start turned into a strong and exciting finish as the Firestorm mounted a second half comeback to pull off the 84-83 win over Benedictine-Mesa on Wednesday night.  Junior Chris Sterling impressed with a game high 32 points.

The first ten plus minutes of the first half saw the Firestorm (6-1) make just two of 18 shot attempts (11.1%).  With 9:40 to play in the half, ACU found themselves down 20-7.

Over the next two minutes, Arizona Christian used an 11-2 run to climb back within four at 22-18.  A tip-in by Senior Jackson Helms started the run.  Sterling finished the run with nine straight ACU points on the strength of two made three pointers.

However, the first year Redhawks (2-6) held the Firestorm to just four points over the course of the next four minutes and exploded out to a 19 point lead (41-22 with 3:30 to go).  But Arizona Christian had an answer of their own with a 21-5 scoring spree to close out the half.

Senior Bobby Gray capped the first 20 minutes of scoring with a three point heave from just inside the mid-court stripe to create the 46-43 Benedictine edge headed to the locker room.

Senior Sharif Watson was a scoring machine down the stretch as all 11 of his first half points came in the final three and a half minutes highlighted by a fast break dunk and three pointer.  Sterling topped all scorers with 13 first half points.  Gray added 11 points of his own.

After their terrible start, ACU made 13 of 17 shots (76.5%) to end up at 15-35 (42.9%) from the field in the opening half.  Benedictine-Mesa converted 17 shots on 29 attempts (58.6%) to apply the pressure.

To begin the second half, the Firestorm used the first two and a half minutes to grab a brief 51-50 lead.

Not backing down, the Redhawks returned to the top side of the scoreboard and once again pushed out to a double digit lead- up 68-58 with 13 minutes to go until the final buzzer.

Chipping away, Arizona Christian reached a two point deficit only to see Benedictine-Mesa move back in front by nine at 83-74 with 4:49 showing on the clock.

Key the dramatic music and air tight ACU defense as the Firestorm would not allow the Redhawks to score the remainder of the contest.

Sterling and Watson took over offensively from there combining to score the final ten points.  Sterling contributed seven of those points.  Watson converted the biggest point of the night at the free throw line with 55 seconds remaining for the final 84-83 score. 

Benedictine had four looks at the game winning basket thanks to continually grabbing offensive rebounds but could not get a shot to fall.

Sterling hit 8 of 13 attempts after the break to reach his 32 point total.  Watson ended with 15 points.  Helms produced a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Despite the win, a frustrated Head Coach Jeff Rutter said, "We are very fortunate to come away with a win tonight.  Quite frankly, Benedictine is the better team at this point.  We had a good crowd and their energy helped us steal one.  I love our guys, we have a chance to be good at some point, but we just aren't very good right now.  We have some good players that aren't performing well.  We have not decided to play very hard or value defense.  It's pretty disappointing."

Turning the page into Thanksgiving week, the Firestorm will head to California to participate in the Hope Classic hosted by Hope International in Fullerton.  On Monday, the Firestorm will face Huston-Tillotson at 6:30 pm (MT)/ 5:30 pm (PT).