FRESNO, CALIF.- They said this would be the year that Azusa Pacific would have their stranglehold on the Golden State Athletic Conference broken. It wasn't. After a loss to So. Cal College 3 weeks ago, some thought the Cougars would roll over and let the conference crown evade them. They didn't.
When the NAIA's No. 6-ranked Cougars dumped Fresno Pacific, 82-55, in Fresno, Saturday night, Azusa Pacific won its seventh straight GSAC title, becoming the first program in GSAC history to win a conference title seven straight seasons in any sport.
"It feels good to win it again," said Cougar head coach Bill Odell. "It was a hard fought one to win."
After falling behind 5-3, the Cougars scored 15 unanswered point to take an 18-5 lead. Senior All-American guard T.J. Walker scored 6 of his 10 first half points in the run and Jerome Joseph added another 4 points.
"I am glad we got it over with (the GSAC) said Walker. "We ended it on a good note, but we are on to our next goal and that's to win the GSAC Tournament again."
After the Sunbirds rallied to within 28-16, Azusa Pacific went on a 20-4 run in less than 7 minutes to take a 48-20 lead. At the break, the Cougars were up 51-28 after hitting 9 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
The Sunbirds opened the second half with a 10-3 run to make it 54-38, but the Cougars responded with an 18-4 run over 4:48 to push out to 72-42 lead, the largest of the night. Odell subbed most of his starters out at that point.
Walker led all scorers with 15 points, had 8 rebounds and 6 assists followed by 14 points and 5 rebounds from Kevin and 10 points, 5 boards from Justin Leslie.
"We didn't want to share a championship with anybody," said Daley, who has now won a Pac-10 title with UCLA and a GSAC title with Azusa Pacific. "For us, it's not good to share. I am glad that I got a chance to contribute."
Senior center Matt Reed had 8 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
"Coach told me to be a presence tonight, and I like to play a physical game," said Reed, who has been a part of 4 GSAC championship teams. "It's great we won because every year it amazes me how tough the conference is."
Every Cougar played tonight and 12 of the 13 scored. The Cougars hit 12 3-pointers and held the Sunbirds to 28% (21-for-74) shooting.
"We let them back in for a few minutes, but overall I felt like we improved tonight," said Odell.
The Cougars extended their winning streak to 16 in a row over the Sunbirds, including their eighth straight win in Fresno.
The Cougars finish GSAC play with a 12-2 record and an overall record of 26-4. They hold the No. 1 seed in the GSAC Postseason Tournament for the sixth time since the GSAC tourney began in 1994. They will host Point Loma Nazarene on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Cougardome. Over the past 3 seasons, Azusa Pacific is 37-5 in GSAC play, the best 3-year stretch in conference history. Since beginning their run of GSAC titles in 1993, the Cougars are 82-12 in the GSAC.
With the Azusa Pacific women winning 70-66 earlier tonight over Fresno Pacific, and claiming the 1999 GSAC women's title, the Azusa Pacific becomes the first school in Golden State Athletic Conference history to sweep both the men's and women's GSAC basketball titles in the same season.
