CHANDLER, Ariz. – The Montana Western men's basketball team (7-6) closed out the Cactus Classic tournament this afternoon with a loss to The Master's University by a score of 78-72.
How It Happened
Led by
Jalyn Stepney and
Abi Adedo, the Bulldogs got out to a narrow 17-15 lead in the first eight minutes of the game.
A strong defensive stand added to the Bulldog momentum and
Kayden Toldson dished it out to
Quincy Taylor for a three-point play, stretching the Bulldog lead to 22-17 with 10:59 remaining in the first half.
Adedo and Toldson added to the lead, but the Mustangs chipped away. TMU's Jordan Caruso drained a three from the arc and Kaleb Lowry hit a pair of free throws following a foul on Toldson and closed the gap to 28-27 with six minutes to play for the first half.
With the Bulldogs out at 34-29 and four minutes remaining, The Master's claimed momentum and rode a 13-2 scoring run to cap the half up 42-36 on UMW.
UMW got back on their feet and came out swinging in the second half, rolling on to a 20-4 scoring run that saw a pair of threes from Stepney and a solo bucket from
Jacksen Burckley.
The story of the scoring runs continued once more as TMU answered the call and scored 16 unanswered points across five minutes to reclaim the lead once again at 63-56. Layups from Adedo and Taylor broke the spell and the Bulldogs remained closely behind.
With the game coming down to the wire, the Mustangs were able to outlast the Bulldogs down the stretch and secured the 78-72 win over the Bulldogs.
Notables
- The Mustangs attacked the boards on offense, racking up 14 rebounds on the offensive side of the ball. The Bulldogs pulled just four in on offense.
- TMU also put up 16 points off of second chance opportunities, compared to none from the Bulldogs.
- Montana Western was unable to capitalize on numerous trips to the charity stripe. They hit just 9-17 from the line in the game.
- UMW was in scoring by Adedo with 19 points and eight rebounds.
- Stepney followed with 16 points and five boards.
Up Next
Montana Western will take some time off and will prepare for Frontier Conference play. They will open with MSU-Northern at home on January 6 at 7:30 pm MT.
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