"We really picked it up defensively at the end of the first half, and that made the margin as big as it was," said Cougars head coach Bill Odell. "They (Hope International) got real tired and we broke them down."

Led by senior All-American T.J. Walker and junior UCLA transfer Kevin Daley the Cougars ran out to a 50-22 half time lead. In the second half, sophomore Corey Smith keyed a 41-9 Cougar run, scoring 16 of his game and career-high 22 points, including a trio of three-pointers, as the Cougars blew the game wide open.

"I did a lot of work today on my shot, and I guess I was just hot," said Smith, who's previous career-high was 15 points. "Our defense helped us create a lot of shots."

The Cougars trailed 11-10 4 minutes into the game, before Walker led the Cougars on a 31-6 run in the first half. Walker had 11 points in the first half.

Azusa Pacific, who shot 33 percent in the Cougars 76-47 loss to Utah on Saturday, made a marked improvement from the field, shooting 59 percent including a 47 percent clip from the 3-point arc (14-for-30).

All 13 Cougars played in the first half, and each player scored at least 4 points. Freshman guard Ryan Smith and the younger brother of Corey, also had a career-high 9 points, thanks to a perfect 3-for-3 from the 3-point line.

"I was hoping to get everyone in tonight and the game allowed me to do that," said Odell.

The Cougars out-rebounded the Royals 46-33, another big improvement from their first two games.

Daley scored 13 points for the Cougars, Matt Reed tossed in 10 points and senior Jon Dean added a career-high 8 assists.

The 119 points scored by the Cougars was the most by an Azusa Pacific team since the 1994 season when the Cougars scored 128 against Point Loma in the GSAC Tournament.

Azusa Pacific, 2-1, returns to action on Friday Nov. 20 when they host CS Los Angeles in a non-conference game.