It’s Another Masterpiece by Mustangs

TULSA, Okla. —  The Master’s College used fast starts in both halves to down Central Washington, 88-75, Thursday night in the Mabee Center in a second-round game of the NAIA Division I men’s basketball tournament.

Mike Penberthy scored 25 points, making six three-point shots, and added six assists as the Mustangs extended their winning streak to 18 games.

Master’s (31-4) plays top-seeded Belmont (Tenn.) tonight in the quarterfinals of the 32-team tournament.

Belmont (36-1) trounced Geneva, Pa., 85-65, earlier Thursday night.

The Mustangs roared away to a 14-2 lead the first 5 1/2 minutes, with Doug Leaman starting and ending the rally with a three-point basket.

Central Washington (20-14) made several runs the rest of the first half and finally led, 26-25, on a layup by Brant Borghorst with 3:02 left before intermission.

Master’s was clinging to a 31-29 halftime edge, but came out with a hot hand in the second half, using a 10-2 run to boost the lead to 41-31 in the first 2:08.

The Mustangs sank eight of their first nine shots the second half, similar to a streak of 11 in a row that started the second half in an 86-72 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma in the first round Wednesday night.

Leaman finished with 22 points while James Mosley had 17 points and nine rebounds, and Leo Gorauskas added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Mustangs made 51% of their shots, hitting on 52% of their three-point attempts.

Ryan Pepper scored 27 points and Leon Johnson had 25 for Central Washington.

“We feel we are peaking at the right time,” said Bill Oates, who has a 59-9 record in two seasons with the Mustangs. “Central Washington made some nice runs, but we responded to that.

“We made some adjustments and spread them out and that opened up the inside. We feel like we have a good basketball team and we’ll find out how we match up against Belmont.”

Semifinals in the tournament will be played Saturday night, with the televised nationally by ESPN on Monday night.