Junior forward Lance Soderberg led Azusa Pacific with a team-high 19 points, while sophomore Spencer Foster added 14 off the bench, including 8 during a 5-minute, 16-0 Cougar blast that blew the game open … for the third time.

Though Azusa Pacific led wire-to-wire, the game was a see-saw affair throughout the entire night. The Cougars surrendered a 17-point cushion in the first half, a 15-point advantage early in the second half and a 19-point margin with 9 minutes to play. Though the Lions never quite caught Azusa Pacific, they did rally to within 7 at 60-53 following a Leon Rosborough 3-pointer with 4:35 left in the game. Colton Cornfoot answered on Azusa Pacific's ensuing possession with his only trey of the night to keep Vanguard at bay, and the Cougars cruised in over the final 4 minutes for their 14th straight win over Vanguard.

"We just weren't very consistent tonight," said Cougar coach Bill Odell, who with this victory moved to 180-32 (.849) in GSAC play during his 14 years at Azusa Pacific. "Defensively, I thought we did a good job on their perimeter guys, but we had too many breakdowns on their big men, and offensively we went through lapses where we lost our focus and took bad shots."

Brice Prather added 11 points for Azusa Pacific, and Larry English chipped in with 10, including a crucial 4 that came off his own successive steals that led to his fast-break lay-ups, all part of the Cougars' final run of the game.

Vanguard used a 12-0 run early in the second half to pull to within 3 at 37-34 following the first of 2 Brian Kim second-half treys. Yet, after a Cougar timeout, Azusa Pacific responded with its game-clinching run that started with a Soderberg jumper and finished with a 53-34 Cougar lead with just under 9 minutes to play.

"We needed to get our focus back at that point," said Odell. "The guys settled down and they played great defense that gave us some easy baskets and regain control of the game."

Out of the gate, the Cougars held Vanguard without a point and forced 3 turnovers in the first 7-and-a-half minutes of the game, but it wasn't as if they took advantage of their good defense. Azusa Pacific had difficulty draining a shot as well, missing 6 of its first 7 shots. But the Cougars eventually found their rhythm, draining 3-point bombs on 6 consecutive possessions to sprint out to a 22-6 lead following Foster's second trey of the half with 8 minutes to play.

Vanguard was paced by Levi Seekins' game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds for his first-ever double-double at Vanguard. Freshman Brian Roberts added 14 points. Kim, who came into the game averaging 18.5 in conference play, tallied 14 but was held to 4-for-13 shooting.

"They moved Kim to the point tonight which opened some shots for Roberts," said Odell, "but I thought we did a good job of limiting Kim's looks."

With the victory, Azusa Pacific pushes its season-high winning streak to 7 straight, improves to 16-5 overall, and maintains a share of the GSAC lead at 8-2. Vanguard falls to 8-11 overall, 3-7 in the GSAC.

Azusa Pacific now prepares for the battle of the GSAC lead against arch-rival Biola, which is ranked No. 8 in the NAIA and is also 8-2 in the GSAC after tonight's win over Cal Baptist. The Eagles visit the Felix Event Center, Friday (Jan. 28) for a 7:30 p.m. A GSAC record crowd of over 3,000 is expected for the game.