Box Score Santa Barbara, CA- After an even first half, Arizona Christian shot their way past William Jessup in the second half to earn a 92-81 win on Thursday night. The Firestorm advanced to the GSAC semifinals on Friday.
- Game score: Arizona Christian - 92, William Jessup - 81
- Records: Arizona Christian - 23-8, William Jessup - 18-13
- NAIA Top 25 ranking: Arizona Christian - 19, William Jessup - RV
- Location: Murchison Gym, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA
- De'Ron Kyle - 23 points, 10 rebounds
- Shane Carney - 19 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds
- Al Burge - 15 points, 6 rebounds, 6-8 shooting
- Terence Shelby, Jr. - 12 points
- ACU jumped out to a 9-0 lead and eventually were up 18-7
- WJU used an 11-0 run for the tie and then took the lead at 21-20
- The team exchanged ten ties and seven leads through the end of the first half for a 37-37 tie
- Xander Bowers threw down a dunk and Carney nailed a three pointer in the first minute of the second half to grab the lead for good
- After shooting 37.5% in the first half, ACU was on the money with 61.8% shooting in the second half
Thoughts from Coach Rutter
"Al, Terence, and Shane were fantastic in the second half tonight (15-22 from the field). We kind of rode Al offensively for a stretch there. William Jessup was heating up and cut it to four with a couple mins left and Shane hit a dagger."
"We had a good start but had a little stretch were we were giving up straight line drives to the basket. We also got a little patient offensively. We had been sitting at the gym for so long, it seemed to take a little while to get into a rhythm."
"We have played Jessup three times and they have had three different teams each time we have played them. They have struggled with injuries but really battled tonight."
"Deron played a really good game on both ends of the floor. He got us started with 3 threes and he helped finish it with some big rebounds (10 rebounds total)."
"Xander was great tonight. He was not feeling well but he a real gutsy performance and did a lot of things to help us win."
Up Next
The Firestorm head to the semifinals against the host and top seed Westmont on Friday. Tip-off is set for 7:45 pm (Pacific)/ 8:45 pm (Arizona) in Santa Barbara, CA.