Box Score PHOENIX, AZ– The 10th ranked Arizona Christian Firestorm men's basketball team upset the 2nd ranked Hope International Royals on Saturday afternoon by a final of 65-55 inside of the Fultz Memorial Gymnasium on the campus of Arizona Christian University.
With the victory, the 10th ranked Firestorm improve to 20-5 overall and 9-2 in GSAC play. Because of the Firestorm win, coupled with a Concordia victory on Saturday; ACU, Concordia and Hope International are now in a three-way tie for first place in the GSAC with a conference mark of 9-2. With the loss, the 2nd ranked Hope International Royals fall to 21-2 overall and 9-2 in GSAC play.
The first half started bad for the Firestorm, as Hope International outscored ACU 10-0 to start the game. The Firestorm didn't get on the board until there was 13:20 remaining in the half and Sharif Watson slammed in the first two points of the night for ACU.
Arizona Christian shot 42% (9-for-21) from the field in the first half and went 0-for-5 from beyond the three-point arc. The Firestorm also went 8-for-13 from the free-throw line in the first half of play. Hope International on the other hand shot 44% from the field, but shot just 28% (4-for-14) from beyond the three-point arc. The Royals only attempted two free-throws in the first half; making one of them. Hope International took a 31-26 lead into the halftime break over ACU.
"We've been talking all year about consistent effort and intensity," said ACU head coach Jeff Rutter. "Sometimes with a young team, and a bunch of new guys to the GSAC they don't quite understand what that means. I think over the last couple weeks when we've been struggling to pull away from anyone, we are starting to learn how hard you have to play to be successful in this league."
In the second half, the Firestorm responded to head coach Jeff Rutter's message at the break. ACU shot a whopping 53% from the field, but only shot 33% (2-for-6) from beyond the three-point arc in the second half. The Firestorm went 7-for-11 from the charity stripe in the second half. After a hot shooting first half, Hope International shot just 37% (10-for-27) from the field and went shot just 18% (2-for-11) from behind the three-point arc. Once again, Hope International only had two free-throws in the second half; however they converted on both.
"Hope (International) is a very good team, very well coached, and plays extremely hard all the time," said ACU head coach Jeff Rutter. "When you don't match that effort and intensity, you start the game like we did tonight. From the 12 minute mark on, I thought we fought pretty hard and things started to go our way. I'm very proud of the fight in our guys tonight."
Four players scored in double-figures for the Firestorm in the victory, with Sharif Watson leading the way with a team-high 14 points. In his Firestorm debut, Kevin Lawson tallied 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting with six rebounds, a pair of assists and one steal.
The Firestorm men will now hit the road for a pair of games at Vanguard University and at Concordia University. First up, is the Vanguard Lions this Thursday at 8:30pm MST. The ACU women's game will precede at 6:30pm. Arizona Christian returns home on February 19th, when Westmont College comes to town, with the game scheduled to start at 7:30pm; after the women's game.
