EL CAJON, Calif. -- In Irvine they were hopeful while in El Cajon they were vengeful. Yet in the end, neither got what they wanted.
The NAIA's No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific, playing in one of the most difficult buildings in the Golden State Athletic Conference – the Ryan Athletic Center on the campus of Christian Heritage College, turned in its most impressive performance of the season, much to the chagrin of GSAC frontrunner Concordia, which was hoping that a Cougar visit to Christian Heritage would garner it some breathing room in the conference race, and much to the disappointment of Christian Heritage itself, which was desperately seeking revenge for a disheartening 17-point loss in Azusa 6 weeks ago when the Hawks were nationally-ranked.
Instead, Azusa Pacific took Christian Heritage out behind the woodshed and gave the Hawks a beating like no team has in a long time, crushing them, 115-76.
The Cougars shot a blistering 56% from the 3-point arc, draining a school-record 20 treys (10 in each half) to break the former standard of 19 set by this same set of Cougars in the season-opener vs. Montana-Western. Yet, this drubbing really wasn't about Azusa Pacific's offense as much as it was about its defense.
"Our defense was unbelievable," said Cougar coach Bill Odell after the game. "It was the best it's been this season. The guys are getting the hang of it and are playing better and better defense each game."
Senior forward Brett Michel led Azusa Pacific with a career-high 25 points on the strength of 9-for-14 shooting, which including 6 triples. Junior guard Larry English added a season-high 19 points, which included 5 treys, and dished out a game-high 8 assists.
Azusa Pacific led 52-42 at halftime and wasted no time blowing the game open in the second half, opening the final 20 minutes of play with 24-4 run to assume an 76-46 margin.
The Cougars garnered 11 steals (the tenth time this season they've had double-digit thefts) and forced 17 Hawk turnovers, including 7 by CHC guard Jason Cook. The constant thievery translated into numerous Azusa Pacific transition baskets.
"We got on a roll of getting easy baskets and it just snowballed from there," Odell added. "We talked at halftime about doing things better, the things that we knew we had to do against Christian Heritage. The guys came out and got after them with some great pressure defense."
In all, 6 different Cougars tallied double digits in scoring. Senior guard Ryan Dillon added 16 points after knocking down a quartet of 3-point baskets. Sophomore forward Lance Soderberg added 14 points to go along with a career-high 5 assists. Reserves Nate Pratt and Spencer Foster came off the bench to chip in 13 and 11 points, respectively. Foster was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor.
Christian Heritage was paced by Brad Rogers' 15 points.
All told, the Cougar offense was nearly flawless. After tallying 30 assists for 37 field goals in a road win at Hope International last Tuesday, the Cougars came right back with another 30 assists on tonight's 39 baskets.
The Cougars have now won 18 of its past 19 games and improve to 20-4 on the season. Azusa Pacific has posted 12 consecutive 20-win seasons, the longest such streak in the Golden State Athletic Conference. In conference play, the Cougars move to 11-1 and stay a game behind Concordia.
