KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Azusa Pacific drained its first 6 shots from the 3-point arc and used a 17-4 run early in the game to take control and eventually drub Voorhees College (S.C.), 112-79, in the opening round of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in Municipal Auditorium.
The victory, which is Azusa Pacific's 19th straight, sends the Cougars into the "Sweet 16" for the third time in 4 years and for the fifth time since 1998. The Cougars will play Mobile (Ala.) on Friday (March 26) at 12:15 p.m. (PST).
Junior guard Larry English, returning to the site of his greatest basketball memories, enjoyed a flashback moment by tallying a game-high 19 points on 7-for-9 shooting, which included a 3-for-4 clip from the 3-point line.
"It's a good feeling to be back in Kansas City with a different team," said English, who as a freshman in 2002 led Barat College to the NAIA Final Four, thanks in part to tournament-opening 28-point performance vs. Columbia. "I've been getting prepared for this game all week, thinking about what I've done here before. I was excited at the start of the game and got gassed pretty quickly."
English scored 10 points in the first 7 minutes of the game, knocking down a pair of treys in the process. When he picked Voorhees guard Larry Dillingham at mid-court, he had an easy lay-up that put Azusa Pacific up 25-14 and on its way to its most-lopsided victory in the NAIA Tourney since a 104-44 pasting of Huston-Tillotson in the first round of the 1998 NAIA Tourney.
All-GSAC forward Brett Michel added 17 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc.
"We were ready to go," said Michel, who remembered well last year's first round loss to John Brown. "From what happened last year, we just wanted to show that we were a different team. Voorhees scored more than I would have liked, and we have some things to correct, but it's a good opening victory. It gets a little tougher from here on out."
Azusa Pacific buried 21 of its first 31 (68%) shots and led by as much as 21 in the first half before settling for a 56-38 halftime lead. Voorhees, which was paced by Clint Perkins' 19 points, never got closer than 14 early in the second half. The Cougars used a 16-3 run to blow the margin out to 27 at 77-50 following a Brice Prather field goal with 11 minutes to play.
All 12 Cougars scored with half of them getting into double digits. Freshman Spencer Foster tossed in 16 points, making 7 of his 8 shots, while Lance Soderberg and Ryan Dillon each chipped in with 13. Senior center Danny Rosales added 10 points.
The Cougars out-rebounded Voorhees, 50-35, with English, Michel, Dillon, Foster and Nate Pratt all collecting 5 rebounds.
"Voorhees was a different kind of opponent for us," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "They press all the time and don't run many set plays. They try to break you down one-on-one and then crash the boards. We gave up 9 offensive rebounds in the first half but did a better job in the second half."
The 112 points is the most scored in a regulation NAIA Tournament game since Georgetown (Ky.) scored 116 on North Georgia State in the 1996 NAIA Tourney.
Azusa Pacific improves to 32-4 on the season. Voorhees, which earned a berth into the NAIA Tourney with an upset victory in its conference tourney, has its season end at 12-18.
