Cougars Roll Fresno, Ready for Biola

FRESNO, Calif. – Just how far has Azusa Pacific come in 5 weeks?  Tonight's 87-57 thumping of Fresno Pacific should be proof enough.

Back on January 2, the highly-regarded Cougars, who were struggling to play to their Top-10 ranking, beat Fresno Pacific, 93-84, in Azusa.  The result was just one in a string of less than impressive efforts by Azusa Pacific.  However, over the past 3 weeks the Cougars turned a corner, and though tonight's drubbing in Fresno is far from a peak, it is evidence that the No. 8-ranked Cougars are ready to take on the NAIA's top-ranked Biola in a battle for the GSAC crown Tuesday night in Azusa.

"This is a good win," said Cougar coach Bill Odell.  "This is the reason we came up here, to take care of business.  We treated it like it was our biggest came of the year.  Now next Tuesday is our biggest game of the year."

In tonight's second go-around with Fresno Pacific, the Cougars jumped out to an 8-0 lead to open the game and never looked back.  The Cougars then used another 14-2 run in which junior reserve Ladrick Simon came off the bench to score 9 of his 13 first-half points.  The Cougars then relied on a pressure defense to force 11 Sunbird first-half turnovers while scooting out to a 42-26 halftime lead.  From there the Cougars steamrolled, opening the second-half with 21-7 blitz to go up 63-33 with 13 minutes to play.

The Cougars clicked in all aspects of the game and once again used a balance effort with 5 players scoring in double figures.  After scoring 13 in the first 20 minutes, Simon fnished with a team-high 20 points. John Bourne added 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Jeff Staniland collected 12 points, all off of 4-for-4 shooting from the 3-point arc.

Fresno Pacific, which finished the game with 23 turnovers, was led by Joel Sligh's 17 points.

With the win Azusa Pacific posts its tenth straight 20-win season, a first in GSAC history, and improves to 20-4 overall, 12-3 in the GSAC.  Fresno Pacific, which suffers its 22^nd consecutive loss to Azusa Pacific, falls to 7-19 overall, 3-13 in the GSAC.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Ladrick Simon: F; 6' 5"; Junior

#20 Jeff Staniland: G; 6' 2"; Junior

#30 John Bourne: F; 6' 4"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#15 Ladrick Simon
: 6' 5"; Junior
: F

#20 Jeff Staniland
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G

#30 John Bourne
: 6' 4"; Senior
: F

Players Mentioned

#15 Ladrick Simon

#20 Jeff Staniland

#30 John Bourne

Players Mentioned

#15 Ladrick Simon

#20 Jeff Staniland

#30 John Bourne