Guard play and perimeter shooting have been the stalwarts of Cougar basketball. However, tonight the frontline of Lance Soderberg, Brice Prather and Spencer Foster combined for 56 points, 28 rebounds and 3 blocked shots to lead the Cougars to their fourth straight conference win

Foster poured in a career-high 22 points on 6-for-11 shooting, to go along with 6 rebounds and 3 steals.

"Spencer is beginning to do what he did last year—picking us up with some energy," said Cougar coach Bill Odell, who improved to 30-2 lifetime vs. Point Loma. "He's got strong hands and when he gets his hands on the ball it's his. We know he can shoot, but he hasn't scratched the surface of what he can do in all facets of the game. He's just going to get better and better this year."

The trio of Cougar bigmen spearheaded a 17-3 run midway through the first half that propelled Azusa Pacific to a comfortable 32-17 cushion. Soderberg, Prather and Foster combined for 15 points during the run with Prather dropping in 8 of his 10 first-half points in that span.

Prather finished with a career-high 16 points and 2 blocked shots, while Soderberg tossed in 18 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds.

"Lance was very good," Odell added. "He had a stretch in the first half where he settled for 3's, but he was great on the boards and got into a rhythm in the second half."

In the meantime, the Cougar defense was outstanding, holding Point Loma to just 33% (20-for-61) shooting while forcing 20 turnovers.

Azusa Pacific freshman Mike Hornbuckle, who was superb Tuesday evening in shutting down the GSAC's leading scorer Terrrance Johnson of Cal Baptist, was equal to task again tonight in putting the clamps on Point Loma's Nick Nicholson, who came into the game averaging 16.5 points on 53% shooting. Nicholson left the Felix Event Center with just 7 points on a 2-for-12 shooting, including a 1-for-11 clip from the 3-point arc.

"Mike picks things up real quickly," said Odell. "He's longer than most guards and has a good sense and good positioning. We tell him what's going to happen on the court and he picks it up and gets it done. He isn't a physical presence, but he does it with positioning.

Azusa Pacific led by as much as 35 at 81-46 following a Larry English lay-up with 6 minutes left in the game. English finished with 11 points.

Point Loma, which led just once and that was 90 seconds into the game, was paced by Tim Kruge's 16 points and was the only Sea Lion in double figues.

The victory is Azusa Pacific's 13th straight over Point Loma Nazarene and the Cougars' 30th in the past 31 meetings with the Sea Lions. Azusa Pacific improves to 13-5 overall, 5-2 in the GSAC. Point Loma Nazarene falls to 4-13 overall, 3-3 in the GSAC.