Rocklin, CA- Down by 14 points halfway through the second half, Arizona Christian cut their deficit to just one but could not totally complete the comeback as they fell 80-75 at William Jessup on Thursday.  WJU's Darius Clement scored 35 points to help hold off the Firestorm.  Senior Brandon Newman topped ACU with 20 points.

Clement started in right away on the Firestorm (17-4, 5-3 GSAC) as he hit a three to begin the scoring.  Newman countered by sinking three free throws after being fouled behind the line.  An exchange of baskets again tied the score at 5-5.

The Warriors (14-6, 6-3 GSAC) used another basket by Clement- he scored their first seven points- to move in front.  Junior Chris Sterling dropped in a three pointer to create an 11-11 tie.  A dunk by Senior Sharif Watson gave Arizona Christian their first lead at 13-11.

After the fourth tie in the first six plus minutes of the game, Sterling hit another three to push the Firestorm ahead.  ACU enjoyed the scoring edge out to a 22-18 score thanks to a basket from Sophomore Trevor Clay.

However, William Jessup used a 7-0 run to turn the tight first half and ultimately the game around.  In a ten minute span, WJU went from down four to up 13.

At the break, the score was 44-36 in favor of the Warriors.  Clement poured in 19 first half points for WJU.  Newman was the front ACU man with 10 points.

Half number two began with signs that the Warriors were going to run away with the contest.  At two different junctures, William Jessup held as large as a 14 advantage with the final time coming at 58-44 with 10:15 remaining.

Slowly but surely the Firestorm started to chip away at their deficit.  Down five with 2:25 to play a layup by Watson, steal by Sterling, and tip in by Newman all in 14 seconds completely made it anyone's game to win.

With 16 seconds to play, a three pointer by Newman out of the left corner made it a two point affair. After WJU made one of two free throws to move up three, Newman fired another three point attempt from the exact corner he had just made one.  But this time, the game tying attempt rattled in and out as the comeback opportunity came to a halt.

In the end, the Firestorm could not overcome the 35 point effort of Clement.  Behind Newman's 20, Sterling added 16 points and Senior Mike Navar cashed in 11 points on 5-7 shooting.

Come Saturday, the Firestorm will try for the Northern California split as they meet up with Menlo.  Game time in Atherton is set for 4:00 pm (AT)/ 3:00 pm (PT).