COOLIDGE, Ariz. – Malakai Harris scored a career-high 23 points to help the Arizona Western Matadors Men's Basketball team (12-2, 5-1) battle back to beat Central Arizona (3-8, 2-4) 64-61 on Wednesday evening.

Harris scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half as the Matadors built an early lead and took a 28-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Harris also set a career-high in made three-pointers, knocking down five three-pointers, accounting for five of the Matadors' seven made threes for the game.

Central Arizona took the lead early in the second half before opening up a 50-42 lead at the midway point of the second half.

AJ Marmolejos knocked down a corner three to give the Matadors the lead back at 57-55 before eventually stretching the advantage to 62-57 thanks to a 20-7 run.

Yaxel Lendeborg scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half while Marmolejos finished the game as the Matadors' third-leading scorer, scoring 11 points.

The Matadors are back on the road on Saturday, January 7 when they head to Chandler for the first meeting of the season with Chandler-Gilbert at 2:00 pm.