Box Score Kansas City, Mo.- Facing the challenge of beating GSAC rival William Jessup for the third time in one season, Arizona Christian overcame an early deficit to defeat the Warriors on Saturday afternoon. The win sends ACU MBB to the NAIA Semifinals for the first time in program history.
- Game score: Arizona Christian - 90, William Jessup - 79
- Records: Arizona Christian - 31-4, William Jessup - 30-7
- NAIA Top 25 ranking: Arizona Christian - 4, William Jessup - 13
- Location: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO
- WJU scored first and built their lead to eight points twice
- Following a couple of ties, ACU finally took their first lead at 34-33 with 3:15 left in the first half
- Two lead changes and two ties followed before Johnson knocked down a triple right before the break to give the Firestorm a 41-38 edge
- Johnson topped ACU with 12 points in the first 20 minutes
- Out of the break, ACU maintained the lead until WJU forced two ties and then moved ahead for a couple of minutes
- At 9:40 left, Bowers tipped home a missed shot to create a 60-60 tie
- After a block and rebound for Davis on one end of the floor, he threw down a dunk on the other end to give the Firestorm a lead they enjoyed to the final horn
- The Firestorm dominated the boards (46-26), points in the paint (52-32), and points off the bench (29-9)
- With the win, the Firestorm improve to 8-6 in NAIA national tournament play
- ACU becomes the first GSAC team to advance to the NAIA semifinals since the 2014-15 season when the GSAC had two teams in the semis
Thoughts from Coach Rutter
"Really proud of our guys today. They have played so hard and have really locked in and executed what we asked them to do. AJ showed once again that he is as good as any guard in the country, he was really good on both ends of the court. Dennis did a great job on Cash Williams. Micah did a good job on their shooters. The effort was good but we did not play real well in the first half. We turned over a bit too much and Jessup hurt us in transition. We got to the offensive glass and that probably saved us in the first half." "Jessup had a great season and was really tough today. It is a shame we had to see each other on this side of the bracket. Was a good game like it always is with them. "
Up Next
The Firestorm will have Sunday to rest up before they face the overall top seed Loyola (LA) in the semifinals on Monday. The Wolfpack are 35-1 on the season. Tip-off from Municipal Auditorium will come at 5:00 pm (Central)/ 3:00 pm (Arizona).
