Kansas City, MO- After leading early, trailing by as many 18 points, and making a furious comeback attempt Arizona Christian came up just short 80-78 to top seeded Georgetown (KY) on Friday afternoon.  Senior Brandon Newman and Junior Chris Sterling both dropped in 22 points.

Senior Jackson Helms needed just 14 seconds to knock home a jumper in the paint for a quick 2-0 ACU lead.

The Tigers (30-3) scored the next six points on two three pointers to move out to a 6-2 edge.  But the Firestorm (23-9) used a basket from Helms and Sterling along with a free throw by Newman to grab a 7-6 advantage.

However, a 7-0 run by GC turned the half in the favor of the Tigers as they would go to build as large as an 18 point lead.

By half time, the score was 44-31 in favor of Georgetown.  Newman had a great first half as he was 5-7 from the field on his way to 13 first half points.  Georgetown's Deondre McWhorter was well on his way to a double-double as he produced 14 points and 8 rebounds in the first 20 minutes (he ended up with 26 points and 13 rebounds).

Georgetown moved back ahead by as many as 17 points in the opening eight minutes of the second half.

With 8:49 left, Head Coach Jeff Rutter was whistled for a technical foul.  After the made free throws, the Tigers held a 15 point lead.  However, Rutter's technical actually woke up the Firestorm and they owned the final minutes of the game as they outscored the Tigers 24-11.

A pair of free throws by Helms with 5:20 to go made the game a single digit affair the rest of the way.

Sterling nailed a jumper at the 2:09 mark and ACU was within two at 75-73.  Senior Sharif Watson hit a shot to again make the score a two point differential at 78-76.  With 32 seconds remaining, Senior Bobby Gray converted a pair of free throws for the 80-78 score.

Two turnovers by Georgetown gave Arizona Christian two chances to tie the score but both shot attempts including one in the final second fell off the cylinder and the Firestorm season came to an end.

The mad comeback attempt saw ACU make more field goals (26-25) and commit fewer turnovers (15-17).  The Tigers won the game with four more three pointers and one more made free throw.  The teams pulled down an even 37 rebounds apiece.

ACU finished with four guys in double figures- the 22 for Stanley (who score 20 points in the second half) and Newman with Gray adding 15 and Helms ending at 10 points.  Watson and Senior Mike Navar led the rebounding effort with seven boards each.

Coach Rutter stated, "I could not be more proud of our group of guys and how they fought back.  We did not play very well.  Did not get many breaks but we kept fighting and fighting and getting more aggressive.  We had Georgetown on their heels a little bit at the end.  Georgetown is the best team in the country for a reason and they have probably the two best players.  They made us play poorly to start.  I am really proud of guys and how hard they played.  We just lost to a little better team who made a few more plays than we did."

Friday's game was the final collegiate game for the seven ACU Seniors- Navar (who played in all 127 games played by ACU the last four years), Helms, Newman, Gray, Watson, Collin Woods, and Harshal Kolakkar.

Closing out the season, Coach Rutter added these comments about the seniors, "I am proud of our seniors.  They are a really good group of seniors.  They kept fighting and growing a ton this year and the last four years.  I am going to miss them dearly."