Ice cold shooting by the Cougars (35.4% from the field) and a near flawless performance by the home side gave first-year coach Cameron Dollar the biggest win of his brief coaching career, an 84-76 upset over the 9th-ranked Cougars.

"It feels really good," said Dollar, whose team upset No.6 ranked Westmont 59-58 on Tuesday, the second Top-10 team to fall to SCC in four days. "You preach hard work to them in practice and the guys went out and did it tonight. They've tasted success and I think they're going to be even hungrier now."

SCC gained the early advantage, building an 18-10 lead due to hot three point shooting (4-of-6 in the first half) and the lack thereof for the Cougars, who hit only 1 of 13 in the first 20 minutes. The Vanguards switched to a zone defense with seven minutes left and the Cougars took advantage, as Kevin Daley hit the Cougars' first three to cap an 11-5 run to tie the game at 27 apiece.

Leading 37-34 at the half, the Vanguards exploited their size advantage in the paint, climbing to a 48-38 lead after four minutes. With eight minutes left, the Cougars went into a full-court press, disrupting the Vanguards' offense enough to close to 63-60 with 4:35 left. However, SCC went back inside to Jabari Simmons, who hit a pair of free throws, a short jumper, and converted a three-point play to make it 72-63 and put the game out of reach.

APU did mount a furious comeback attempt in the final two minutes, closing to 76-73 with one minute left. But, a pair of missed shots and four free throws put the game on ice.

"Their speed and quickness took us out of some things offensively," said APU head coach Bill Odell, whose team drops to 19-4, 6-2 in conference. "I don't think (SCC) was ready for conference play the first time we saw them, but they were tonight."

Simmons scored 36 points to lead all scorers, including 15-of-18 from the free throw line. Jerome Joseph hit 11-of-14 free throws to pace the Cougars with 22 points. Daley added 16 and T.J. Walker dropped in 14.