AZUSA, Calif. – For the third straight game Azusa Pacific scored over 100 points, rolling over Hope International, 104-46, in a GSAC game in Azusa Tuesday night.
This one was never in doubt as the Cougars jumped to a big lead in the early going and continued to pour it on. All 12 Cougars scored at least 5 points with junior reserve
Ladrick Simon leading the way with a team-high 16 points, all in the second half. Senior guard
Caleb Gervin chipped in 14 points while
Steve McIlwain and
Jeff Staniland added 12 points apiece.
"We're obviously getting off to better starts," said Cougar coach Bill Odell, "and that carries over and is breeding better play."
The NAIA's No. 9-ranked Azusa Pacific blitzed Hope International from the opening tip, roaring to a 16-2 lead less than 5 minutes into the contest. The Cougars made 8 of their first 11 shots, which included a quartet of 3-pointers, explaining the Cougars' 22-5 cushion at the 13:36 mark of the first half. Ten of the 11 Cougars who played scored by halftime, led by McIlwain's 9 points.
The Cougars shot a fine 54% for the game while holding Hope to just a 35% clip while inducing 21 turnovers. Meanwhile, Azusa Pacific, which sank a season-high 15 treys in Friday's victory over Point Loma Nazarene, buried another 12 tonight, led by McIlwain's quartet. The Cougars, who lead the NAIA in free throw percentage, improved their pace tonight by connecting on all 20 free throw attempts.
"We've been stressing defense and we're getting better in that way," added Odell, "and truthfully, we knocking down shots and that gets us going."
Now comes the hard part.
The Cougars have concluded a fairly easy stretch of the schedule in which they defeated Life Bible College (109-40), Point Loma Nazarene (107-58) and now Hope International (104-46), eclipsing the 100-point plateau in each game. Next up comes a visit to Christian Heritage, an NAIA semifinalist last year, The Master's, which beat the Cougars back in December, followed by a visit to Fresno Pacific before returning home to host No. 2-ranked Biola.
"It's hard to judge performances in these kinds of games," said Odell, "especially when both teams (Hope and Point Loma) played us stronger the first time around."
The Cougars improves to 18-4 overall, 9-3 in the GSAC and return to second place in the GSAC, tied with Westmont, which after leading entire game, fell in the final minute to GSAC front-runner Biola, 72-69, in Santa Barbara tonight. Hope International falls to 3-20 overall, 1-11 in the GSAC.
