AZUSA, CALIF. -- For the sixth consecutive season, NAIA power Azusa Pacific opened the new campaign with a victory, ushering in the 1997-98 season with a 108-60 victory over Pacific Christian College in a nonconference game in Azusa Thursday night.

The Cougars scored 36 of the game's first 47points to jump out to a comfortable 25-point lead less than 12 minutes into the game. PCC never got any closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

All 11 Cougars who played scored, led by senior Brad Alley (La Verne, Calif./San Dimas HS) and sophomore Justin Leslie (Nuevo, Calif./Perris HS), who each tossed in a game-high 17 points. Junior point guard T.J. Walker, a transfer from University of the Pacific via Modesto City College, may have had the biggest impact, though, scoring 11 points while tallying 3 assists and 3 steals in just 18 minutes of play. The Cougar bench outscored PCC's reserves, 55-10.

The victory was also Azusa Pacific's 18th straight at home, The Cougars haven't lost in Azusa since Feb. 13, 1996. Since 1993, Azusa Pacific is 70-5 in the Canyon City.

"We got the rust off, the uniforms on, the crowd into it and once we got that going, we played like we know how to play," said seventh-year Cougar coach Bill Odell. "The defense is what put us together with those runs, and T.J. certainly can excite you. We fed off of him."

Azusa Pacific is now 1-0 on the season while Pacific Christian falls to 1-4.