RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The NAIA’s No. 4-ranked Azusa Pacific let an early 14-point lead slip away and then nearly lost a grip on the game but in the end was able to hold on for an 89-86 Golden State Athletic Conference victory over Cal Baptist Tuesday evening in Van Dyne Gymnasium.
Sophomore forward Lance Soderberg made 2 free throws with 15 seconds left to give Azusa Pacific its final lead and then blocked a Khary Lands shot in the key with 3 seconds remaining to secure Azusa Pacific’s 12th straight victory.
Soderberg’s heroics capped a flurry of events in the final minute in which the lead changed hands 5 times. With Azusa Pacific up 83-80, Cal Baptist’s Luke Seidel made a lay-up and then stole the ball from Cougar Ryan Dillon to lead to another Lancer lay-up and a Cal Baptist 84-83 lead with 56 seconds left in the game.
Azusa Pacific’s Danny Rosales answered with a baseline lay-up off a nifty Larry English pass in the key to put the Cougars back on top at 85-84 with 45 seconds remaining. However, Lands, who had torched the Cougars for 18 points in the key, including 11 in the second half, spun Soderberg around and dropped in another go-ahead basket for the Lancers with just 21 seconds left.
On Azusa Pacific’s ensuing possession, Soderberg got the ball on the right elbow. Surrounded by a trio of Lancers, he collided with Cal Baptist’s Tyler Ojanen, who was whistled for a block with 15.1 seconds left. Soderberg drained both free throws and then blocked Lands’ shot at the other end to preserve the win. Rosales made 2 free throws with 0.3 second on the clock for the final margin of victory.
“Lands worked me the time before,” said Soderberg, “so on the last play I knew I had to stay down, not let myself get so close so that he could spin on me, and keep my feet active so I could change direction really fast. He took one dribble one way and went up, and I thought, ‘hey, I can get that shot.’”
Soderberg finished with 21 points, which included a pair of treys, but no points were bigger than the go-ahead free throws near the end of the game.
“I’ve done it before in high school where I’ve hit game-winning free throws,” Soderberg added, “so I was trying to think that these were no different than other ones I’ve shot.”
Azusa Pacific used an 8-0 run to take a 10-6 lead early in the game and eventually pushed the cushion to 14 at 29-15 with just under 9 minutes left in the first half. However, with the team’s leading scorer Brett Michel on the bench with 2 fouls, Azusa Pacific had no answer as Cal Baptist came roaring back behind the 3-point shooting of Seidel, whose 3-ball from the wing capped a 22-7 Lancer run that gave CBU a 37-36 lead with 1:45 left in the first half. A Dillon 3-point basket, however, gave Azusa Pacific a 40-37 lead at intermission.
In the second half, Azusa Pacific knocked down 3 straight 3-point shots by Dillon, Michel and English to take an 8-point lead but Cal Baptist came right back to assume the lead again. Once again the Cougars rebuilt a 5-point lead, but Cal Baptist responded again. Azusa Pacific seemingly couldn’t stop Cal Baptist when needed until the end of the game. Only top-ranked Mountain State (94 points) and No. 3 Concordia (88) have scored more points on Azusa Pacific’s top-rated GSAC defense than what Cal Baptist tallied tonight.
“It should not have had any bearing on our play tonight,” said Cougar coach Bill Odell when asked if Saturday’s emotional victory over Concordia left the team flat for tonight’s contest with Cal Baptist. “We have to get over the Concordia game and not allow things like that to affect us in the next game. They should have been ready to go. We weren’t mentally prepared to play, especially in the first half tonight.”
Dillon led Azusa Pacific with 23 points, thanks in large part to 6-for-10 shooting from the 3-point line. Rosales added a career-high 20 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
Seidel poured in 24 points and teamed with Lands for 42 of the Lancer’s 86 points. On the final play of the game, the Lancers had 2 viable options in Seidel and Lands and went with the taller Lands when Seidel was unavailable off a screen.
“I asked the coaches to put me on Siedel late in the game because I was tired of him scoring,” said Dillon. “On the last play, I just face-guarded him and wouldn’t let him get the ball.”
Azusa Pacific, which has now won 23 of its past 24 games, improves to 25-4 overall, 16-1 in the GSAC to stay a half game ahead of Concordia. Cal Baptist falls to 13-16 overall, 6-11 in the GSAC.
