AZUSA, Calif. -- Ryan Dillon and Spencer Foster combined for 36 points on 13-for-20 shooting, which included 8 3-point field goals, to lead the NAIA's No. 3-ranked Azusa Pacific to a 93-84 victory over Westmont, Tuesday evening in the Felix Event Center. Combined with The Master's 84-76 upset of No. 2 Concordia, the victory gives Azusa Pacific at least a share of its 11th Golden State Athletic Conference championship in the past 12 years.

With the win Azusa Pacific pushes its winning streak to 14 straight while improving its overall record to 27-4. More importantly, the Cougars move to 18-1 in the GSAC with 1 game remaining (at Point Loma next Monday). Concordia is now 16-2 with 2 contests left (at Biola on Friday, vs. Fresno Pacific on Monday).

"This team is kind of special," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "To win this conference championship may be the biggest accomplishment of any team I've had. We don't have stars, it's just a total team effort. I think the character of these guys is fantastic. They deserve this. It's not because they are better than everyone else. They just wanted it."

Before the Cougars could ever get to a GSAC title though, they first had to "want" this game with Westmont.

With the Cougars clinging to a 2-point lead at 77-75 with 6 minutes left in the game, Foster ignited a 9-0 Cougar run with a jumper in the key. Danny Rosales followed with a jump hook and Lance Soderberg scored 5 straight points, the last 3 coming off a conventional 3-point play that put Azusa Pacific out of reach at 86-75 with 1:51 left in the game.

Soderberg scored all 12 of his points in the second half after being benched in the first half with 2 fouls just 3 minutes into the game. He scored 7 of the Cougars' first 14 points in the second half, capped by a 3-pointer that gave Azusa Pacific a 58-51 lead with 14:49 to play.

However, behind Nick Debban, who scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, Westmont, in typical fashion, fought back into the game and refused to go away. At one point, Debban scored 6 straight and when freshman Luke Allen nailed a trey from the top of the key, Westmont was within 1 at 74-73 with 6:47 left. However, the Warriors went dead in the water, scoring just 2 points over the next 5 minutes, going 1-for-7 in the process with 1 turnover.

"I think the last couple of games (in which the Cougars won in the final second of the games) were going through everyone's mind," said Soderberg. "So we grabbed each other and said 'calm down and do our thing.'"

Dillon, who finished with a team-high 19 points including 9 in 2 minutes early in the game, opened the stretch run with a corner triple that put the Cougars up 77-73. After a Kevin Bartel lay-up pulled Westmont back to within 2, Azusa Pacific fashioned its "nail-in the-coffin" 9-0 blitz.

Azusa Pacific led 44-42 at halftime, but it was Westmont that was making the charge at the end, going on a 12-6 run over the final 5 minutes to catch the Cougars at 42-42 by taking advantage of 4 Cougar ball handling miscues. Larry English cut through the key for a lay-up at the buzzer to give the Cougars the slim intermission margin.

Westmont scored 11 of the game's first 14 points before Azusa Pacific went to the 3-ball to spark a 25-7 run. The Cougars' first 7 baskets were all 3-point field goals. The second of Brett Michel's 3 first-half bombs gave Azusa Pacific a 22-18 lead and Dillon's lay-up pushed the Cougar lead to 10 at 28-18 less than 9 minutes into the game.

Foster finished wiith 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting which included a perfect 3-for-3 from the arc.

"I have never been on a team where everyone got along as well as this team does," said Foster, a former standout at nearby prep powerhouse Glendora High School, where he teamed with current Westmont guard Kyle Bechler to lead the Tartans to the 2001 CIF title. "Whether I was at Glendora or now here at Azusa Pacific, I've always been beating better teams by just running our stuff better than anyone else."

Michel tallied 16 points, and center Danny Rosales finished with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.

In all, the Cougars drained 15 shots from the 3-point line, 10 of which came in the opening 17 minutes of the game. Westmont beat the Cougars on the glass, 39-34, thanks in part to a hefty 16 offensive caroms.

With the victory Azusa Pacific sweeps the regular-season series from Westmont for the first time since 2000. And combined with the sweep of Biola earlier this season, this set of Cougars becomes only the second Azusa Pacific team ever to complete a Westmont-Biola sweep in the same season.

"It doesn't matter who we're playing, it's another win," said Odell when told of the unique sweep his team had just earned. "I think one of the reasons we've been successful is because we don't focus on a certain team but rather on playing consistently."

As for the unprecedented 11th GSAC title, Azusa Pacific has special gratitude for The Master's, which for the second straight year paved the Cougars' way to the GSAC title by setting a screen on Concordia. A year ago tonight, the Mustangs beat Concordia, 79-76, in Irvine to give Azusa Pacific a share of the 2003 GSAC crown. This time, the Mustangs collected its 8-point win over Concordia at home in Santa Clarita.

The Cougars, who set a GSAC record with its 18th conference win tonight breaking the former standard originally set by the 2001 and 2003 Cougars along with the 2002 Biola team, now take 5 days off to enjoy its accomplishment before going for the out-right title in the regular-season finale at Point Loma Nazarene, Monday (March 8) in San Diego.