FULLERTON, Calif. -- Senior All-GSAC forward
Brett Michel registered team highs of 19 points and 9 rebounds to lead the NAIA's No. 2-ranked Azusa Pacific to an 84-70 victory over Point Loma Nazarene in the semifinals of the 11th Annual Golden State Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament held in the Darling Pavilion at Hope International University.
The victory puts Azusa Pacific in the conference tourney championship game for the fourth straight year where the Cougars will meet No. 4-ranked Concordia, Tuesday (March 16) at 7:30 p.m. at Hope International. Earlier tonight, Concordia downed The Master's, 72-61, in the other semi.
Michel bounced out of a mini-slump with one of his typical all-around great games. He drained 7-of-10 shots, including a pair of treys, and had 3 assists to go along with a steal in 37 minutes of play. And as good as he was on offense, he may have been even better on defense.
For the third straight game this season, Michel locked down Point Loma's All-GSAC forward Andrew Lasker, holding the Crusader's top scorer 14 points under his season average with just 4 points on 1-for-9 shooting. Last Monday, in the both team's regular-season finale in San Diego, Michel limited Lasker to just 9 points on 3-for-11 shooting.
"Brett did a great job on him again," said Azusa Pacific coach Bill Odell, who is now 29-2 all-time vs. Point Loma Nazarene. "I told him before the game that all other games are in the past and that this was a new one with a new challenge and he responded very well."
Point Loma led for the first 6 minutes of the game and was still up 21-20 at the halfway point of the first half before the Cougars assumed the lead for good with an 8-2 run that gave Azusa Pacific a 28-23 lead with 6 minutes left in the first half.
Led by Michel's play, Azusa Pacific then held Point Loma without a field goal for 3 minutes, using a 9-1 run to take a 12-point lead before settling for a 44-34 cushion at halftime.
Though Azusa Pacific held several double-digit leads throughout the early minutes of the second half, Point Loma worked its way back into the game and following a John Anderson jumper was within 2 points at 54-52 with 11:20 left to play. The Crusaders never got over the hump, but guard Nick Nicholson never let Point Loma fall too far away, making 5-of-9 treys in the final 13 minutes of the game, finishing with 23 points. In fact, PLNU was still within 5 at 71-66 following a Nicholson bomb with 3:42 left in the game.
"We know Nicholson is going to take his shots," said Odell, "and whether he makes them or not doesn't really depend on us. Either he has it or not, and tonight he had it."
However, the Cougar defense tightened the screws again and did not allow another Crusader field goal until Nicholson popped a 3 with 15 seconds left in the game. In the meantime, Azusa Pacific went on a game-finishing 13-1 run, in which all 5 Cougar starters made a field goal.
"No one had an all-star game but we were pretty solid," said Odell, whose Cougars improve to 30-4 on the season to become only the fourth squad in program history to reach the 30-win plateau. "I told the guys after the game that we're blessed to have a 30-win season. We're not playing great right now, but we are playing hard. We're doing all the intangible things."
The Cougar frontline quartet of Lance Soderberg (14 points), Brice Prather (8), Danny Rosales (6) and Erik Soderberg (2) combined for 30 points and 13 rebounds and did a much better job of slowing down Point Loma's Trent Berglund, who 5 nights ago torched the Cougars for 28 points on 13-for-16 shooting. Tonight, Berglund finished with 18 points on 6-for-16 shooting.
Ryan Dillon added 15 points and made 2 3-point field goals to become the first Cougar ever to make 100 triples in a season.
Azusa Pacific has 2 days now to prep for a rematch with Concordia, the defending NAIA champion and GSAC Tourney champion. The 2 NAIA powers split their regular-season series with each team winning at home.
