AZUSA, Calif. – Senior Steve McIlwain canned 2 straight 3-pointers to spur a 13-4 run early in the second half, which helped the NAIA's No. 6-ranked Azusa Pacific to its 14^th win of the season, 82-69 over visiting Vanguard.
 
Five different Cougars scored in double figures led by McIlwain's game-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc. Junior Caleb Gervin and senior Anthony Haggins scored 13 and 11 points, respectively. Senior John Bourne and junior Ladrick Simon scored 12 points apiece.
 
"We have such a tendency to start out slow, " said McIlwain. "We were ready to go tonight but we just couldn't hit a shot. We took it upon ourselves to get it started and have some fun."
 
The Cougars led by 3 at halftime (35-32), then led 43-38 just 4:30 into the second half, when McIlwain buried back-to-back treys to key the Cougars' 13-4 run, which blew the lead up to 14 (56-42) with 12:18 to play.  Vanguard got no closer than 9 points.
 
The Cougars forced 18 Lion turnovers and converted 22 points off the Vanguard miscues. Along with the turnovers, the Cougars outscored the Lions off the bench, 38-16, sparked by the contributions of Gervin and Haggins.
 
"I felt like we were flat and I was fearful of that coming off of Tuesday's game," said Cougar head coach Bill Odell. "We did not shot well and we took some shots that I did not like. We wanted to calm down and execute in the second half in order to get some decent shots and attack inside. We methodically did our thing."
 
Senior Shane McKim who scored a game-high 15 points canning 5-out-of-7 shots led the Lions.  Along with McKim, senior Damion Morbley and junior Leviticus Williamson scored 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Lions did not help themselves from the charity stripe making only 8-out-of-18 free throws, while the Cougars connected on 11 of their 13 attempts. 
 
The Cougars had balanced scoring throughout the first half and were led by Gervin, who scored 8 points on 4-out-of-6 shooting. Along with Gervin, John Bourne and Ladrick Simon scored 7 and 6 points, respectively. Gervin scored a leaning lay-up with 1:50 left in the first half to give the Cougars their largest lead at 31-25. The Lions were led by Morbley who scored 10 points on 5-out-of-7 shooting which included a buzzer-beater, which pulled the Lions within 3 at 35-32.
 
With the win, the Cougars remain in sole possession of third place in the GSAC at 6-2. Overall the Cougars are 14-3 and handed the Lions their 9^th loss of the year falling to 9-9 (5-4) on the season.