Box Score Surprise, AZ- Up 10 with 49 seconds to play, OUAZ closed the gap to two but ACU held on for the 98-96 win on Thursday. The Firestorm punched their ticket to the GSAC tournament next week with the win. Six players scored in double figures.
- Game score: Arizona Christian - 98, OUAZ - 96
- Records: Arizona Christian - 23-7, 11-7 GSAC, OUAZ – 4-24, 1-17 GSAC
- NAIA Top 25 ranking: Arizona Christian - 23, OUAZ – not ranked
- Location: Willow Canyon High School, Surprise, AZ
- Callum Lawson - 23 points, 17 rebounds (14th double-double)
- Terence Shelby, Jr. - 19 points, 5 assists
- Emilio Acedo - 19 points
- Shane Carney - 13 points, 4 assists
- Al Burge - 11 points, 9 rebounds
- Isaiah Walton - 10 points
- ACU was down four at the break after shooting just 32.5 %
- Lawson had just four points in the first half
- Down 71-70 at 7:24, ACU used an 8-0 run out of a time to take the lead for good.
- The Firestorm made 29-41 of free throw attempts (70.7%) while the Spirit were 12-27 (44.4%)
- OUAZ's Marcus Williams scored 39 points
Thoughts from Coach Rutter
"We got off to a pretty slow start tonight. We looked a little tight. Once Ottawa got up 10, I thought we tried to do too much offensively.
We did a nice job defensively over the last 10 min of the half and that allowed got us back into a good position."
"We talked at halftime about shot selection and being more patient. I think the guys responded well. We were much more effective offensively in the second half because we let shots come to us a little more."
"I am excited to get back to the post-season and the opportunity to keep improving. This team still has a lot of upside."
Up Next
On Thursday, the Firestorm will return to the GSAC tournament hosted at William Jessup as the fourth seed. They will be the designated home when they face fifth seeded Westmont. Time to be determined.
