AZUSA, CALIF. -- The NAIA's No. 5-ranked Azusa Pacific found itself down by 12 points at 69-57 with 9 minutes left in its contest at Cal Baptist. For most teams, it's time to panic. For the Cougars, though, they struck a lightening bolt on Cal Baptist that ignited a 34-9 Cougar run that over ran CBC and led Azusa Pacific to a 95-84 Golden State Athletic Conference victory in Riverside, Saturday night.
Junior guard Jason Boswell led the Cougars with a game-high 19 points, thanks in part to a trio of 3-pointers. Fellow backcourt mate T.J. Walker chipped in with 15 points, and Nate Getz and Jeremy DeVries each added 12 to aid the Cougar cause.
This game, however, belonged to a pair of Cougar reserves who tonight stepped out from the shadows of their teammates to lead the Cougar charge.
In the midst of the Cougars' 34-9 run, senior forward Brad Alley buried the second of a pair of 3-pointers that brought the Cougars to within 5 at 71-66 and seemingly take all hope away from Cal Baptist. Moments later, senior forward Ty Clark made a reverse lay-up that gave the Cougars their first lead in the second half at 75-74. Alley finished with 7 points, and Clark added 6 more of his own.
"We didn't come out with our best intensity tonight," said DeVries, who canned a pair of key 3-pointers during the Cougars' run. "Perhaps it was because we had to play 2 big games back-to-back (Biola and Westmont) earlier this week, and as a result we didn't take Cal Baptist as serious as we should. I was waiting for my opportunities and when I hit my first 3, I wanted the ball right back to keep stroking it."
With the win, the Cougars have now won 9 straight and remain atop the GSAC, 1 game ahead of second-place Westmont with 2 games left in the regular season. A Cougar victory Tuesday night at Fresno Pacific clinches Azusa Pacific's sixth straight GSAC title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming GSAC Postseason Tourney.
Azusa Pacific, which has now won 21 of the past 25 meetings with Cal Baptist, improves to 26-4 overall, 11-1 in the GSAC. Cal Baptist falls to 11-16 overall, 3-9 in the GSAC.
