SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- For the first time in 4 tries there wll be a new champion of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Tournament after Azusa Pacific's Dennis Vanzant scored with 15 seconds left to lift Azusa Pacific to a 73-71 victory over tournament host Cal Poly SLO in opening round play Friday night.

Cal Poly SLO, which won its own tournament the past 3 years, appeared to be headed to victory after it had rallied from 10 down over the final 10 minutes to assume a 71-70 lead.  However, Vanzant, who was held to a season-low 6 points in the Cougars' loss earlier this week at Whittier, had his shooting touch back tonight, canning 11-of-18 shots, including the go-ahead basket that gave him a game-high 26 points on the night.  The Mustangs still had a chance to win but missed their final shot, and fouled Jeff Butler who drained a free throw for the final margin of victory.

As is becoming the pattern, the Cougars fell behind in the early going, trailing by as much as 12 points in the first half before rallying to within 4 at 37-33 at halftime.  They then relied on their defense to take control of the contest in the second half, holding the Mustangs to just 4 points in the first 8 minutes of the half while going on an 18-4 run assume a 51-41 advantage with 10:40 remaining in the game.  Junior guard Ric Reed teamed with Vanzant to propel the Cougar surge.  Reed finished with 26 points as well on 12-for-19 shooting to record his fourth 20-point game in 5 contests this season.

SLO did not go quietly into the night tought and came back to knot the game at 66-66 with 3:45 to play.  From there the 2 teams traded leads until Vanzant hit what proved to be the game-winner.

John Parker led Cal Poly SLO with 25 points, but he missed a potential game-winning shot with 3 seconds to go.

As a team, Azusa Pacific shot 50% (30-for-60) from the floor, while the Mustangs converted at a 45% (31-for-69) clip.The Cougars converted 13-of-19 free throw attempts as compared to Cal Poly's 9-for-12 pace.

With the victory, the Cougars, who improve to 4-1 on the season, will face St. Mary's in Saturday's tournament championship game at 9 p.m.  The Gaels downed Sonoma State, 94-83, in Friday's other game.  Cal Poly falls to 0-3 and will face Sonoma State in Saturday's preliminary game at 7 p.m.