Clinging to a 59-57 lead, Azusa Pacific forced 2 turnovers in the final minute of play, the last coming as Hornbuckle picked off a pass as the Lights went for a last chance to win the game or force overtime.

"We tried to put as much pressure on the ball as we could because they weren't handling it well," commented Hornbuckle on the Cougars' last stands down the stretch. "We had a good trap on their man with the ball on the block. I thought the pass might go back out to the weak side, so I moved in that direction and got my hand on the ball."

Scott Zea led Azusa Pacific with 13 points while Demario Butler and Hornbuckle each chipped in with 10. Yet the Cougars struggled mightily throughout the night with the Lights' half-court offense and dominance on the boards which in turn held Azusa Pacific nearly 30 points under its scoring average.

"We just didn't come out very well," added Hornbuckle. "We had a slow tempo all night and never picked it up, even after halftime. We just haven't fully meshed as a team in terms of timing."

The teams traded lead 9 times throughout the contest, the final coming when Colton Cornfoot converted a pair of free throws as part of a Cougar 7-1 run that was capped by a Butler bucket that gave Azusa Pacific a 57-53 advantage just under 4 minutes to play, its largest advantage since the opening minutes of the game.

The Lights thoroughly crushed Azusa Pacific on the glass. MSUN came in averaging just 32 caroms a game but tonight snagged 49 and out-rebounded the Cougars by a whopping 19. Additionally, the Cougars didn't help themselves with a dreadful effort at the charity stripe, missing 12-of-22 free throw attempts.

"It's a bad excuse, but we haven't responded well to lesser opponents after playing teams like Mountain State, Biola and Westmont," said Hornbuckle. "For some reason we were flat against Occidental earlier this week and again tonight."

Montana State-Northern led 33-31 after out-rebounding the Cougars by 8 in the first half, which translated into 10 second-chance points for the Lights. Reserve Ronnie Simpson scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the first half, including 3 off a conventional 3-point play with 54 seconds remaining in the half to assure the halftime lead.

Azusa Pacific pushes its winning streak to 6 and improves to 7-1 on the season while Montana State-Northern has its 3-game winning streak snapped and falls to 10-4.

In the other game of the Cougar Classic, Concordia knocked off Albertson, 99-96, in double-overtime.