AZUSA, Calif. – All-GSAC guard Caleb Gervin celebrated his return to the starting line-up in rather impressive fashion by tallying 19 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the NAIA's No. 11-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 107-58 GSAC victory over Point Loma Nazarene Friday night.
 
Gervin, who struggled from the gate at the start of the season and lost his starting spot, has slowly returned to form over the past 3 weeks and was rewarded tonight with what was once a familiar post – the starting point.  The 6-foot-1 junior, who is California's No. 3 all-time prep scorer, didn't waste his opportunity, nailing 7-of-11 shots, including a trio from beyond the arc, and then engineered an efficient Cougar offense that buried 54% (37-for-69) of its shots while committing a mere 8 turnovers.
 
"I just wanted to be a sparkplug tonight," said Gervin, who perhaps put together the most complete effort of his Azusa Pacific career.  "I wanted us to get after them right from the start and that was the tone I wanted to set."
 
Azusa Pacific roared from the gate with 5 three-pointers from 4 different players in just over 9 minutes of play to assume a 24-13 lead after John Bourne's triple from the top of the key.  The Cougars took advantage of 8 Crusader turnovers and a chilly 36% (9-for-25) shooting by PLNU to push the lead to as many as 21 in the first half.  Azusa Pacific settled for a 48-29 cushion at halftime.  Senior guard Steve McIlwain led Azusa Pacific with 13 first half points on 4-for-6 shooting while Gervin recorded 10 points and 6 rebounds.
 
All 11 Cougars scored tonight with 6 reaching double-digits.  Bourne tallied 19 points as well to go along with a team-high 9 rebounds.  McIlwain finished with 17 points and 5 assists, while Jeff Staniland, bumped from the line-up by Gervin's insertion, displayed no effects, scoring 11 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 5 assists.  Anthony Haggins, who was making his first start of the season, registered 10 points as well as reserve Ladrick Simon.
 
"I was very pleased with our performance," said Cougar coach Bill Odell.  "We came out ready to play and did a good job defensively. Our balance was fantastic.  We haven't been starting games real well, and we needed to make a line-up change.  I don't like to change line-ups but we may do that the rest of the way."
 
Like they did to start the game, the Cougars rained down treys to start the second half, hitting 4 more bombs early in the half to push their lead to 74-39 after another Bourne trey.  The Cougars finished with a season-high 15 three-balls on 25 attempts.
 
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 17-4 overall, 8-3 in the GSAC while Point Loma Nazarene falls to 2-22 overall, 0-12 in the GSAC.