Hawks face familiar Starr on Saturday

2020 SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN HAWKS MEN’S BASKETBALL

ECS staff report

SANTA CLARITA – San Diego Christian College men’s basketball returns from the holiday break with another tough road contest, traveling to the land near Magic Mountain to meet historic rival The Master’s University on Saturday (Dec. 5).

The Mustangs (1-0) are playing for the first time in three weeks following a series of cancellations and postponements. So the school got together to play a non-conference game which will not count in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings.

With the Hawks (0-3) debuted their athletic program in 1986-87, they and The Master’s would annually meet twice per season. And often, the schools would meet a third time in Far West regional playoff action in the National Christian College Athletic Association tournament.

In fact, the 1989-90 regional final victory over the Mustangs was followed by three wins over a 3-day span at the national tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., when the Hawks were crowned NCCAA national champions in March 1980.

The great rivalry was intense in the beginning, but less so in recent season. The Master’s owns a 37-7 series advantage since 2003; 17-2 in the 2010’s decade.

San Diego Christian (0-3) is much better than its record indicates, last taking 25th ranked University of Antelope Valley to overtime before falling. The Master’s (1-0) is rated No. 19 following an easy 108-72 romp over host West Coast Baptist in Lancaster.

Leading TMU was 6-foot-9, red-shirt forward Gaven Lloyd, who waited 632 days between games. Lloyd, a sophomore, posted team-highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds against the Golden Eagles after not playing since his senior year in high school.

Lloyd was one of seven Mustangs to score in double figures in what was the program’s highest-scoring season opener since at least the early days of the Hawks-Mustangs series.

Also playing for The Master’s is junior guard Jordan Starr, who won a pair of CIF-San Diego Section championships for Foothills Christian before moving to the greater Santa Clarita area because his father, Kelvin Starr, was head coach of the Mustangs.

The elder Starr once coached at El Cajon’s Christian High and SDCC. In his time with The Master’s, Starr has been a three-time GSAC coach of the year and the NABC NAIA Division I  Coach of the Year in 2017-18.

The game has an early 5 p.m. tip-off and will be streamed here: The Master’s University – Home