SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- For 20 minutes Azusa Pacific played its best basketball of the young season, racing out to a 10-point halftime lead, only to see it vanish in a second-half blink as Westminster rallied for a 72-69 victory over the Cougars in the final game of the Homestead Invitational.
Azusa Pacific led by as much as 16 points (25-9) in the first half and was still up by 14 with 2 minutes to play in the half. Behind Brett Michel’s 13 points, the Cougars owned a 35-25 lead at intermission, thanks in part to holding Westminster to 8-for-28 (.286) shooting.
In the second half though, Westminster matched Azusa Pacific’s energy and raised it, creating an intense, physical, and sometimes out of control game. The Griffins used an 8-0 run to open the half to get back into the game. Though Azusa Pacific pushed the lead back out to 5, the Cougars couldn’t keep Westminster at bay.
Using a high-post screen, Westminster scored 12 points off baseline lay-ups during a 10-minute stretch while Azusa Pacific missed 4 straight shots and committed 3 turnovers to go dead in the water. Griffin guards Shane Humpherys and Adam Hiatt combined for 34 of Westminster’s 47 second-half points, taking advantage of halftime adjustments that exploited what had been an outstanding first-half Cougar defense.
The Griffins took their first lead of the game with just over 12 minutes to play and then regained it for good on a Hyatt trey that sparked a Westminster run resulted in a 57-50 Griffin lead with 8:33 to play. The Cougars rallied back to within a point on a couple of occasions and were still down by only a single digit at 64-63 with 2:36 to play.
An offensive foul called on Cougar Dennis Coutee led to a technical foul called on the Cougar bench. Humpherys made the 2 free throws and then buried a jumper to put Westminster back up at 68-63 and force Azusa Pacific into a high chase mode.
Azusa Pacific was still within 3 points at 70-67 with the ball in the hand and less than 20 seconds to play. Michel, though, could not bury a 3-point shot from the left wing with 9 seconds remaining, and Westminster escaped with a hard-fought victory.
Michel led Azusa Pacific with 20 points while Coutee added 12. Danny Rosales may have played the best game in his 2-year Cougar career, finishing with 8 points and career-highs 14 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
With the loss Azusa Pacific falls to 1-2 while Westminster improves to 3-0.
