By: Courtesy NAIA

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Arizona Christian avenged a regular-season loss and advanced in the 88th annual NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship with an 86-78 win over Georgetown in a Round of 16 game Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium.

Arizona Christian - which lost to Georgetown, 76-75, when the teams met at a neutral site all the way back on Nov. 2 - now faces Freed-Hardeman (32-1) in the quarterfinals Saturday at 2:30 CT. Freed-Hardeman advanced by rallying to knock off Northwestern, 74-72, in a Round of 16 game earlier Thursday night.

The first 15 minutes of the game were tightly contested before an 8-2 burst by Arizona Christian (25-7) allowed the Firestorm to open up a 35-27 lead with 1:27 to go in the first half. Georgetown responded with a basket, a 3-pointer of its own, but Arizona Christian still led 38-32 at halftime.

Ese Onakpoma led Arizona Christian with 12 points, three assists, and two rebounds. Shaud Bradley added nine points, and Amaechi Chukwu chipped in eight points and eight rebounds for the Firestorm, which outrebounded Georgetown, 21-16, in the first half. Arizona Christian made 12 of its 28 shots (42.9 percent) overall, but only four of its 13 3-pointers (30.8 percent).

Isaiah Mason paced Georgetown (24-8) with nine points, and Rashad Bishop had eight points and three rebounds for the Tigers, who went 14-for-31 (42.5 percent) from the field overall and 2-for-6 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range.

Arizona Christian led the entire second half, but Georgetown never let the Firestorm get too far ahead before clawing its way back within striking distance. The Tigers got to within five points for the final time at 80-75 on a 3-pointer by Bubba Leavell with 1:17 to go, but Arizona Christian made enough free throws and got enough defensive stops down the stretch to hold off Georgetown and move on to the quarterfinals.

Bradley led all scorers with 25 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Onakpoma had 23 points, Jay Lee finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots, and Sabien Cain netted nine points and four rebounds for the Firestorm, who outrebounded Georgetown, 38-29. One of the biggest differences in the game came at the free-throw line, where Arizona Christian made 30-of-43 attempts (69.8 percent) compared to Georgetown's 10-for-16 (62.5 percent).

Mason was the high scorer for the Tigers with 22 points. Scotty Browning came off the bench and scored 11, Darien Lewis scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Zion Harmon finished with 10, and Rashad Bishop had 10 points and five rebounds for Georgetown in the loss.