AZUSA, CALIF. – The bar can't get much higher, but the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Azusa Pacific cleared yet another hurdle with plenty of room to spare, using a 64-point second half to put away No. 7- ranked Christian Heritage, 100-74, before 2,203 in Azusa Saturday night.
 
The Cougars, winners of 9 straight GSAC regular-season championships, became the first team in school history and the only one in the nation this season to record 30 victories in the regular season. Two other Azusa Pacific teams needed postseason play to post 30-win seasons. In fact, the Cougars are the only 30-game winners in all of college basketball this season (including all divisions of the NCAA). Azusa Pacific's record-setting road to the GSAC crown netted a conference record 17 wins. The Cougars are also riding a 16-game winning streak, the second-longest in school history. The longest is a 17-game run that took the 1998 Cougars all the way to the NAIA Final Four.
 
"We haven't taken anything for granted yet," said senior Justin  Leslie, who tallied 6 points in his final regular-season game and was one of 8 Cougars to hit a 3-pointer. "We want to keep building because we want to get hotter. We want to play our best at the end of the season. This team is really hungry to make something
happen on the national level."
 
With Christian Heritage leading 45-40 just over a minute into the second half, freshman Brett Michel capitalized on 2 Cougar offensive rebounds of missed 3-pointers with a layup, then nailed a trey to tie the game at 45-45 on the next possession. The Cougars took the lead for good on a pair of John Bourne free throws with 15:17 to play in the game, and continued to pour it on during a 26-5 run that gave the Cougars a commanding 65-49 lead with 11:29 remaining in the contest.
 
"My teammates got me some open shots, and I just hit them," said Michel. "We have so many great weapons, it makes it hard for teams to guard everybody. If they go to double the posts, it makes it easy to spot up, and the posts did a great job of kicking it back out."
 
Rich Reinebach's 3-point play cut the Cougar lead to 82-67 with 4:02 remaining, but Anthony Haggins answered with a 3-point play of his own as the Cougars scored 18 of the game's final 25 points. Gary Dredge, who had missed his only 3-point attempt of the season, drained consecutive treys in the final minute and was fouled on a third straight try. He missed the first 2 free throws, but calmly sank the third to help Azusa Pacific eclipse the century mark for the third straight game.
 
"They are really physical inside, and we weren't spotting up very well to begin the game," said Cougar head coach Bill Odell, whose team shot 12-for-19 from 3-point range in the second half. "In the second half, we spotted up well and hit open people, and when we're open for shots, we shoot the ball really well."
 
Brad Nicholson led all scorers with 26 points, but was held to just 6 in the second half before fouling out of the game with 3:45 remaining. Dredge was one of 6 Cougars to score in double figures with 11 points. Michel tied a season high with 19 points, and Steve McIlwain hit 4 treys to score a team-high 20 points.
 
"I like coming off the bench and providing the spark and doing what I can to help us," said McIlwain, who came off the bench in a concentrated defensive effort to keep Nicholson in check in the second half. "I spend twice as much energy on defense against (Nicholson) than I do on offense."
 
With the score tied at 20-20 with 8:49 remaining in the first half, Nicholson scored 7 of his 20 first-half points to lead Christian Heritage on a 16-5 run that gave the Hawks their largest lead at 36-25 with 4:10 left in the half. The Hawks again took an 11-point lead at 41-30 with 2:30 to play, but Michel's trey with 25 seconds left in the half
capped a 7-0 Cougar run to cut the Hawk lead to 41-36 at the break.
 
Azusa Pacific finishes the regular season at 30-2 overall, 17-1 in the GSAC, while Christian Heritage heads into the postseason at 25-6 overall, 13-5 in the GSAC. The Cougars will face Vanguard next Wednesday night in Azusa in the first round of the GSAC Postseason Tournament. The Hawks will host Concordia.