CHANDLER, Ariz. – After a big performance in tonight's matchup, the Montana Western men's basketball team (7-4) defeated the no. 10 ranked Arizona Christian 71-61 in the first day of the Cactus Classic in Chandler, Ariz.
Tonight's win marks the first win over a top-10 ranked team since the 2019-20 season when UMW defeated no. 9 ranked Carroll College 80-74 on the road.
"Proud of our guys for staying together and committing to the defensive end. Had multiple guys step up and contribute," Head Coach Pat Jensen said. "We had a great week of prep for this game and our redshirts and staff did a great job pushing our guys all in week in practice."
How It Happened
UMW kept the Firestorm contained early in the game, sinking a pair of threes from UMW's
Jacksen Burckley and a solo triple from
Jalyn Stepney to gain an early 10-4 lead.
ACU's Emery Young broke a more than three-minute dry spell for the two teams and cut the UMW lead back to three at 16-13. ACU continued on their spurt and reclaimed the lead at 17-16 with 7:40 left in the half.
Burckley added to his three-ball count and ended the lengthy UMW scoring drought after he drained a three from the arc. Stepney added his own three to tie the game at 22 all. The Bulldogs continued on to take a 34-31 lead into the break.
UMW quickly stretched their lead in the first four minutes of the second half, capping off an 8-3 run on a fast break dunk from
Abi Adedo to take a 42-34 lead.
With just under eight minutes to go, the Bulldogs were able to outlast a pair of threes from ACU's Dominic Gonzalez as Adedo added six straight to the board for a 57-52 UMW lead.
A quick 7-0 scoring run for the Bulldogs put them out by their largest lead of the game at 62-52 with 5:57 on the clock.
UMW continued to remain in the driver's seat and finished down the stretch to win 71-61 over the no. 10 ranked Firestorm.
Notables
- UMW took control of the ball game early in the first quarter and led for 77.8 percent of the matchup.
- The Bulldog men utilized turnovers and capitalized with 19 points on ACU turnovers.
- Burckley hit a career high of 18 points tonight after he hit on five of nine attempts from the arc and six of 11 from the field.
- Four Bulldogs hit double digits with Stepney hitting for 16 points, five boards, and two assists.
- Adedo added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will look to continue their momentum with day two of the Cactus Classic tomorrow. They will take on Ottawa University-Arizona at 6:30 p.m. The Spirit enter the contest at 7-3 overall this season and are coming off of an overtime win today over MSU-Northern.
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