TURLOCK, Calif. -- Junior guard
Ric Reed was named tournament MVP after pouring in 32 points to lead Azusa Pacific to an easy 80-61 victory over Stanislaus State in the championship game of the Stanislaus State Tournament, Saturday night in Turlock.
Reed canned 15-of-25 shots to pace the Cougars, and received ample support from fellow all-tournament honoree
Dennis Vanzant, who tallied 28 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Senior center
Roger Cahoon added 10 points and 10 rebounds, while senior guard
Jeff Butler guided the Cougar offense to its fifth 80-point game in 10 contests this year with a team-high 7 assists.
Azusa Pacific jumped out to a 20-10 lead in the early portion of the game. However, behind all-tourney pick Steve Harris, who scored a team-high 18 points, Stanislaus State rallied to take the lead at 23-22. The Cougars, though, responded with a 15-4 run over the next 4 minutes to assume a commanding 37-27 lead before settling for a 38-31 advantage at the intermission. From there, APC methodically pulled away in the second half to register the 19-point victory, its third in as many tries vs. the Warriors.
The Cougars have now won 4 straight and captured two tournament title this season (the season-opening Redlands Tournament was the other) to push their record to 8-2 on the season. They return to action next weekend at the Point Loma Tournament, a 3-game agenda in which the Cougars make their first-ever appearance on Point Loma's new campus in the San Diego area.