COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Cougar senior
Brett Michel's final visit ever to Vanguard's famed "Pit" ended in similar fashion to his first visit there 4 years ago.
Tonight, Michel's 40-foot heave at the buzzer found nothing but net to allow the NAIA's No. 4-ranked Azusa Pacific to escape with a 75-72 Golden State Athletic Conference victory over Vanguard. The victory not only pushes the Cougars' winning streak to 13 straight but it caps a week in which Azusa Pacific collected 2 conference road wins with dramatic last-second heroics. On Tuesday, Lance Soderberg blocked a potential game-winning shot in the key to preserve the Cougars' win at Cal Baptist.
Much like the Cal Baptist game in Riverside 4 nights ago, Azusa Pacific continually let leads slip away tonight against Vanguard. The Cougars led by 4 at halftime and inched the cushion out to 7 at 48-41 following a Soderberg lay-up with 13:13 left in the game. However, a 9-0 Vanguard run over the next 4 minutes gave the Lions their only lead of the second half at 50-48.
Azusa Pacific answered and again built a 7-point lead, going up 67-60 again following a Soderberg lay-up with 2:13 left in the game. The Cougar defense, which had been the GSAC's best until the past week, failed down the stretch. The Lions tied the game at 67-67 on a pair of Kevin Dalafu free throws with a minute left, and Brian Kim drained an off-balance 3-point shot from the corner to knot the game at 72-72 with 4 seconds remaining.
The Cougars immediately inbounded the ball to Michel, who took 4 dribbles which included a hesitation move, and then released his game-winning launch just inside the half-court line.
The officials held a momentary conference at center court before officially counting the basket, much to the delight of Azusa Pacific fans and to the heated anger of Vanguard supporters.
"I could not hear the horn," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "The place was very loud, and I was watching what Brett was doing. It was a great shot by Brett, I know that."
As a freshman in 2001 in his first-ever GSAC game, Michel buried a trey from the right wing to force overtime in a game at Vanguard, and then in the extra frame he nailed another 3-point basket with 26 seconds left to lift nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific to the victory at Vanguard.
Michel finished with 17 points, 4 of which came in the final 11 seconds. He made 2 free throws to give the Cougars a 72-69 lead prior to Kim's game-tying 3-point shot. Soderberg added 14 points and a game-high 8 rebounds. Danny Rosales chipped in 15 points, while Ryan Dillon tallied 13. Dillon's 3-pointer with 30 seconds left gave Azusa Pacific a 70-67 lead and snapped a 7-0 Lion run over the previous 85 seconds of play.
Vanguard was paced by Kim's game-high 22 points. Leon Rosborough added 16 points to go along with a team-high 6 rebounds.
"Vanguard really played well," said Odell. "They shot very well and did a lot of nice things against us. As for us, we're just not sharp right now."
Azusa Pacific, which has now won 12 straight over Vanguard since 1999, improves to 26-4 on the season, 17-1 in the GSAC. The 17 conference wins ties the GSAC record first set by the 2001 Cougars and tied again last year. Also, the 2002 Biola team won 17 games.
