EL CAJON, CALIF. -- Season-long unsung heros Damian Raibon, Isamu Nichols and Jeff Staniland put together an 11-0 Cougar run midway through the second half to turn a 7-point Cougar deficit into a 4-point cushion as the NAIA's No. 9-ranked Azusa Pacific came from behind to down Christian Heritage, 95-82, Saturday.
Combined with Point Loma Nazarene's 84-74 upset of No. 5-ranked Biola across town in San Diego, Azusa Pacific garners an unprecedented eighth straight GSAC championship, and with it captures an automatic berth into the next month's NAIA Championship Tournament in Tulsa, Okla.
Without the services of foul-plagued All-American Kevin Daley, the Cougars trailed 45-39 at the half. Daley, a GSAC and NAIA Player of the Year candidate, was forced to the bench with his third foul less than 7 minutes into the game. With Daley and his 22-point scoring average out of the game, the Cougars fell behind by as much as 13 points (36-23) with 6 minutes to play in the half. They were still down by 12 (43-31) with 2 minutes remaining when Staniland spurred an 8-2 run by scoring 6 points to pull the Cougars to within 6 at the intermission.
The Hawks scored the first 2 baskets of the second half to go back up by 11 at 50-39. However, a fresh Daley was back in action, scoring the game's next 7 points in less than a minute to pull the Cougars to within 4. A pair of Hawk 3-pointers sandwiched a Jerome Joseph 3-pointer to push the CHC lead back to 7 at 56-49 with 15:07 to play. In addition, Daley returned to the bench with his fourth foul. That's when Staniland, Nichols and Raibon went to work.
The trio combined for an 11 consecutive points with Raibon scoring 5 points, Nichols 4 and Staniland 2. In addition, the 3 Cougars came up with 3 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot. The end result was a 60-56 Cougar lead after a Raibon steal and jumper with 12:34 to play. And though CHC's Rich Reinebach hit back-to-back jumpers to knot the game again at 60-60, Azusa Pacific, nonetheless had the momentum.
Daley returned to the game with 10 minutes left and promptly nailed 3 straight 3-pointers as part of a 13-2 Cougar run that put Azusa Pacific up 73-62 with 7:06 left in the game. From there on, it was lights out.
Joseph's jumper that put the Cougars up 79-69 with 4:23 left in the game was Azusa Pacific's final FG. The Cougars canned 16-of-17 free throws over the final 4 minutes with the freshman Staniland calmly stroking 11 of them.
Ever so efficient in his work, Daley finished with a team-high 28 points in less than 19 minutes of play. For the second time this week, he tied the school game record with 7 treys. Staniland finished with a career-high 21 points, thanks in part to 15-for-18 shooting at the line. Joseph had 20 and Nichols tallied 12.
The Cougars were beat on the boards, 44-40 and the 2 teams shot an identical 42%. The difference came at the line and with the ball. The Cougars made a whopping 39-of-50 free throw attempts, compared to CHC's 12-for-18. Additionally, the Cougars committed a season-low 7 turnovers.
With the victory and the GSAC crown, Azusa Pacific becomes one of the first teams in the nation to punch its ticket for Tulsa and the 32-team NAIA Championship Tournament. The automatic berth clinches Azusa Pacific's fifth straight trip to the NAIAs.
However, before heading off to Tulsa, Azusa Pacific still has to go through the trials of the GSAC Postseason Tournament to determine the conference's other automatic qualifer (if the Cougars win the postseason tourney as well, then their foe in the March 7 title game gets the other bid). Next up is a first-round game with Vanguard on Wednesday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Azusa. Though just the eighth seed of the GSAC Tourney, the Lions gave Azusa Pacific a heart-stopping scare in their last trip to Azusa, forcing the Cougars to sweat out a 79-77 victory in both team's GSAC opener back on Jan. 4.
Azusa Pacific heads into the postseason with a 7-game winning streak and a 26-4 record. They win the GSAC title with a 16-2 record.
