Surprise, AZ- In the first ever meeting between the schools on the basketball court, Arizona Christian scored 62 second half points to knock off Ottawa (AZ) 98-85 on Tuesday night.  Three players scored 25 points each for ACU lead by Junior Callum Lawson adding 16 rebounds to that point total.

The Spirit (1-3) scored the first five points of the game before the Firestorm (3-0) scored the next ten points.  ACU built as large as an 11 point lead before OUAZ chipped away and reclaimed the lead at the 5:32 mark.

Lawson converted a three point play (jumper and a free throw) to push Arizona Christian back in front with under two minutes to play in the half.  But Ottawa scored the final four points of the half to take a 38-36 lead into the locker room.

Senior Sam Finley poured in 13 points in the first 20 minutes.  Lawson was well on his way to his third straight double-double to begin the season with ten points and five rebounds.

Out of the break, ACU forced three ties before Lawson made a jumper in the paint just over two minutes into the second half to give the Firestorm a 46-44 edge.   Arizona Christian controlled the game from there without allowing another tie.

When the scoreboard finally had a chance to breathe at the final horn after the 62 point outburst from ACU, Senior Matt Willkomm (23 second half points) and Finley joined Lawson at the 25 point scoring total.

As a team, ACU shot 58.8% from the field in the final 20 minutes.

In a tweet after the game, Head Coach Jeff Rutter gave a shout out to the ACU crowd that came to the game by stating, "Great crowd tonight.  Thanks for coming out and supporting us!  It made a difference."

On Thursday, the Firestorm will head to Heap Gym at Mesa Community College to face off with Benedictine-Mesa.  Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm.