TULSA, OKLA. -- Azusa Pacific more than lived up to its No. 1 seeding in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., defeating Big State Conference champion Huston-Tillotson, 104-44, Wednesday afternoon in the first round of play.
The Cougars' 60-point victory was the second largest in the 61-year history of the NAIA Tournament (Texas A&I; beat Northern Michigan by 68, 113-45, in the 1958 NAIA Tourney)
"I know this is a good way to start the tournament," said Cougar head coach Bill Odell, whose record at the NAIA Tournament is now 3-5. "Without a good scouting report, I figured the game would be a lot different, but we played with intensity the entire game."
Azusa Pacific led 23-12 with 11:32 left in the first half before going on a monster tear. The Cougars ripped off a 33-5 run to take a 56-17 lead with 1:48 to play in the half. Freshman Corey Smith (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas HS) was on fire in the first half, hitting a quartet of 3-pointers. In fact, the hot shooting infected the entire team which shot a sizzling 79% (23-of-29) in the first half to cruise to a 58-19 intermission lead. Jeremy DeVries (Mount Vernon, Wash./Mount Vernon HS) and Jason Boswell (Turlock, Calif./Turlock HS) both hit a pair of treys for the Cougars, who were 9-for-12 (75%) from the 3-point arc.
"There are some days when you really feel it," said Smith who came into the game 8-for-47 (17%) from the 3- point arc in the past 12 games. "You get open and hit the shots."
In the second half, the Cougars cooled off, shooting "only" 43% while using a 15-2 run to begin the second 20 minutes to push its margin to 73-21.
"Our main goal coming into the tournament was 40 minutes of intensity," said GSAC Player of the Year T.J. Walker, who scored 12 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in only 18 minutes of play. "There have been times this year where we let up and let teams back in, but we know this is not the place to let teams do that."
Every Cougar scored and 5 were in double figures for the Cougars, who finished the game shooting 40-for-68 (58.8%) including a 13-for-20 (65%) clip from the 3-point line.
Smith led all Cougars with 15 points, all from the 3-point arc. Walker and DeVries both tossed in 12, as did Justin Leslie, who played only the last 10 minutes. Boswell finished with 10 points.
The Cougars, 32-4 and winners of 15 straight (the third longest active winning streak in all of college basketball), will face Transylvania University (Ky.) in the second round on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. (PST).
