With 14 second-half points, Soderberg carried the Cougars to their third straight win over Westmont, and more importantly he helped Azusa Pacific avoid its first 3-game losing skid since 1991 and right its ship in time for a visit from defending NAIA champion Mountain State (Dec. 10).

Soderberg put together the most complete game of his 3-year career at Azusa Pacific, making 11-of-16 shots, including 2 from beyond the arc, to go along with a career-high 5 assists and one blocked shot.

"Lance is a very good player," said Cougar coach Bill Odell, who is now 21-13 vs. his alma mater. "He's capable of doing that every game, and this wasn't an atypical shooting night for him. He's a good shooter."

Azusa Pacific appeared to be headed toward another long and arduous battle with the Warriors. For the sixth time in 8 games this season, the Cougars struggled from the floor, at least in the early going. They missed 15 of their first 21 shots, many of which came off good open looks.

It took the long-range shooting of sophomore reserve guard Jeff Bates to get the Cougars to snap out of the doldrums. Bates banged home back-to-back treys from the left wing, propelling Azusa Pacific to a 29-20 lead with 2:32 left in the first half.

From then on Azusa Pacific looked like the team of old, executing its offense to near perfection while playing relentless defense. Westmont never got closer than 4 points early in the second half, and the Cougars led by 13 on a trio of occasions in the second half and as much as 14 before settling for its first double-digit victory over the Warriors in conference play at the Felix Event Center.

"Making shots makes us work harder," said Odell. "That's the nature of the game. When you feel good about yourself, you don't get down and you work harder. It's a positive thing for the flow of the game. When you hit the shot, everyone feels good, because you just executed something. We've had trouble shooting and I don't know why. We've always been a good shooting team, and I think we will be. We showed a little in the second half. Bates was big in the first half against the zone.

Soderberg ignited a 15-7 Cougar run to start the second half by scoring 7 points. His jumper gave Azusa Pacific a 46-34 lead less than 5 minutes into the second half.

"We got better looks than we normally do, because we were setting great picks in the second half," said Soderberg, who now leads the team in scoring with a 15.8 avg. "I was just trying to do the little things, and the game came to me and things started going my way."

Bates finished with a season-high 14 points, thanks in part to 4-for-6 shooting from the 3-point arc. Spencer Foster finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds, while Larry English had 9 points and a game-high 6 assists.

"Bates was big in the first half against the zone," said Odell, "and our offensive rebounding was the key in the first half."

Azusa Pacific, which had 14 offensive rebounds, out-scored Westmont, 13-5 on second-chance points and for the fifth time in 8 games this season held an opponent under 70 points. The Warriors shot just 42% (23-for-55) from the floor but was paced by the hot hand of senior guard Kyle Bechler (son of former Cougar guard Kent Bechler) who registered 21 points on 6-for-11 shooting.

"(Assistant coach) Justin (Leslie) did a great job of preparing our guys to defense Westmont," added Odell. "The majority of backdoor stuff they got was against our freshmen, who have never seen this. Bechler had a great shooting night, but I thought we did a good job on him. He just knocked down some shots."

With the victory Azusa Pacific improves to 6-2 overall, 1-1 in the GSAC, while Westmont falls to 4-2 overall, 1-1 in the GSAC.