LA JOLLA, Calif. -- In the first of 2 battles for supremacy in the NAIA District III, Azusa Pacific relied on clutch free throw shooting and an opportunistic defense in the final 105 seconds to hold off U.S. International for a critical 56-50 road victory Thursday night in La Jolla..The victory gives the Cougars a 1-game cushion in the loss column over USIU in the District's Southern Division, and squarely puts APC in the driver's seat ahead of USIU and Whittier for the No. 1 seed in the upcoming district playoffs.
In a game that was close the entire evening,
Jeff Butler and
John Fien each converted a pair of free throws, Butler's with 1:45 left in the game and Fien's with 29 seconds remaining (his only points of the night), to keep the Westerners at bay as the Cougars turned a 50-48 advantage into a 54-50 lead with less than half-a-minute to play. As USIU tried frantically to rally, APC stole the ball following Fein's makes, and
Dennis Vanzant hit a jumper with 5 seconds left to assure the final margin of victory.
The win pushes APC's winning streak to 12 straight and snaps USIU's impressive 18-game winning streak. The Westerners, who came into the game ranked No. 13 in the NAIA, had not loss since a 69-66 decision at UC San Diego in the second game of the season. Cougar guard
Ric Reed led all players with 24 points on 10-for-17 shooting to go along with a team-high 9 rebounds. Vanzant added 12 points and 7 rebounds. The Reed-Vanzant duo, which came into the game averaging a combined 45 points a contest, accounted for all but 20 of the Cougars' points tonight. USIU was paced by Jim Wyrick's team-high 18 points. Paul Jackson chipped in with 12 for the Westerners.
Azusa Pacific came into the game averaging over 80 points a contest but was held to a season-low 56 by a deliberate USIU pace and a Westerner defense that ranks sixth in the NAIA. The Westerners led by a narrow 22-21 advantage at halftime and enjoyed their biggest lead of the game at 28-25 early in the second half.. The Cougars grabbed the lead at 42-40 with 7:33 remaining and then used a zone defense over the final 3 minutes to hold off USIU. The Cougars took advantage of favorable officiating by canning 16-of-23 free throws on the evening, while the Westerners could only counter with a 2-for-6 pace at the charity stripe.
The victory, which is the Cougars' fourth straight over USIU, pushes APC's record to 23-3 overall, 8-0 District III Southern Division play. With the loss, USIU falls to 19-2 overall, 6-1 in Southern Division play. The two teams will meet again in the regular-season finale in Azusa in less than 2 weeks on Feb. 26.
The Cougars, owner of a 12-game winning streak, second longest in program history (the 1965-66 and 68-69 Cougars each won 13 in a row), will get a chance to tie the program record, when they host California Lutheran in Memorial Gym, Saturday (Feb. 16) at 8 p.m.
