Fresno Pacific Athletics

LAS VEGAS, NV. – The #3 ranked Fresno Pacific men’s basketball team defeated #9 Westminster (Utah) 87-85 Saturday afternoon in the Las Vegas Shootout tournament. The Sunbirds trailed 39-30 at the half, but rallied in the second period and two overtimes to defeat the Griffins and improve to a perfect 5-0 on the season.

Senior point guard Adrian Hurtado converted the game winning basket on a jumper with 3.5 seconds left on the clock to give the Sunbirds the win.

Four players scored in double digits while senior forward Todd Brown and senior guard Jesse Childs led the way scoring 19 points each. Brown was also strong in the paint grabbing a team high 9 rebounds.

Senior guard Alex Davenport contributed 13 points as well, while fellow senior guard James Lewis Jr. netted 11 points. Both had 5 rebounds in the contest.

"This was a big win for us," said FPU assistant coach Chris Wright. "We fell behind early but never gave up. We just kept battling and in the end we made enough plays to win the game."

Head coach Jim Saia's Sunbirds beat the #1 team in the country (Robert Morris) the previous night and with the two big wins, are closing in on a first-ever #1 national ranking.

"It was a great game," acknowledged Saia referring to the Westminster game.

Fresno Pacific will be back in action Friday, November 27th when they host Montana Tech in FPU's Special Event Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7pm.