Azusa Pacific capped it non-conference play with a 120-37 smoking of Bethany College tonight in Azusa. The 83-point margin of victory shatters the oldest record in the Cougar books, besting the former standard of 76 when the 1966 Cougars beat Life Bible, 132-56. Azusa Pacific, which has won 13 of 15 games this season including the past 9 in a row, open GSAC play next Tuesday (Jan. 12) against Southern California College in Azusa.

Tonight Azusa Pacific looked every bit the Top-10 ranked team that it is. The Cougars shot a sizzling 61% (46-for-76) from the floor, including a 22-for-34 (.647) clip in the first half. Meanwhile the Cougar defense forced 29 Bethany turnovers and did not allow Bethany to score for 9-and-a-half minutes in the second half. During the Bruin drought, Azusa Pacific went on 33-0 run from the 15:31 to the 5:59 mark. The 37 points are the fewest allowed by an Azusa Pacific team since the 3-point stripe was added in 1987 and is only 1 point shy of the school-record 36 when Azusa Pacific beat Cal Baptist 41-36 in 1980.

All-American point guard T.J. Walker led Azusa Pacific with 24 points on 10-for-11 shooting in 18 minutes of play. Junior forward Owen Healy came off the bench to toss in a career-high 20 points, including 16 the second half.

"This game helped break the ice for me," said Healy, who came into the game averaging just 2.2 points this season. "This was a good start for me. Now I know I can produce for this team."

If the Cougars have had any weakness in their game this season, it's been a matter of slow and sloppy starts. Tonight was a different matter for the quick-paced and precision-like Cougars. Azusa Pacific jumped out to a 17-3 lead in the first 5 minutes of the game, making 6 of their first 11 shots. Junior forward Kevin Daley scored 8 of his 11 points in the Cougars' early run. Meanwhile, Azusa Pacific didn't commit a turnover until 6 minutes into the game while forcing the Bruins into 9 turnovers in just 9 minutes of play. Azusa Pacific stretched its lead to a 59-22 halftime cushion, scoring 17 of its points off 15 Bethany turnovers.

"We talked about starting strong and playing consistently for 40 minutes," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "We didn't want to wait and got after it from the start which set the tone.

In the past 2 weeks, Azusa Pacific has collected road victories over NCAA Division II powers Hawaii Pacific and Cal State Bakersfield. Tonight's blow-out caps an outstanding run for the Cougars, who were a shaky 4-2 back on Nov. 27.

"We would have like to start GSAC play after the Bakersfield game," added Odell. "But we need out bench to play well in conference, and a game like this helps them to gain confidence."

The Cougar bench outscored Bethany's bench by a whopping 66-6 count.

"We were wondering how we would get up for a game like this after beating them by 40 points just a few weeks ago," said Walker. "We just knew we had to jump on them quickly."

Azusa Pacific, which beat Bethany, 95-60, in Azusa back on Dec. 12, improves to 13-2 on the season. Bethany falls to 2-12.