The NAIA's No. 13-ranked Azusa Pacific downed Vanguard, 84-68, before a crowd of 857 in the Felix Event Center. As expected the Cougars ran away from Vanguard, out-scoring the Lions by 27 points over the final 31 minutes of the game. What wasn't expected is that they had to first run-down the Lions, who opened the game on an 11-0 run, led by as much as 12 in the opening minutes, and still owned a double-digit advantage 9 minutes into the game.

Vanguard made 6 of its first 9 shots, including a pair of 3 pointers, to scoot out to a 14-2 lead, and not even a clearing of the Cougar starting line-up just 3 minutes into play could slow the Lions, who kept a comfortable distance from the Cougars at 21-10 following a Bob Brakeville lay-up with 11 minutes to go in the first half. Thoughts of another disheartening Cougar upset, similar to those suffered at the hands of Westmont, The Master's and Cal Baptist, began to creep their way back into reality.

"It's a matter of focus for us," said a frustrated Azusa Pacific coach Bill Odell. "I felt at the beginning we were ready to play, but we just weren't. I don't know if we're taking things for granted, but we started by playing as if its every man for himself. Then we get a body language that wasn't good."

Led by Tristan King's game-high 22 points, the Cougars chipped away the Vanguard lead, getting back into the game on a 12-2 run in which King scored 6 points, highlighted by his breakaway dunk that pulled the Cougars to within 1 at 23-22. And though Vanguard answered with a counterpunch that put the Lions back up by as much at 6, Azusa Pacific had nonetheless sounded the call that it was back in the game with a laser-like focus on the task at hand.

The Cougars, who were still down by 3 at 42-39 at halftime, played lights out defense in the second half, holding Vanguard to just 26 points on a paltry 9-for-32 (.281) shooting clip. They used a 9-3 run in the first 3 minutes of the second frame to take their first lead of the game at 48-45, and they never looked back, closing the game on a 14-4 sprint over the final 5 minutes.

All-GSAC guard Demario Butler tallied 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting to go along with a team-high 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. He had 13 second-half points.

"We had great efforts from Demario and Tristan at both ends of the court once we got going," said Odell. "We just got after it. We didn't settle for being screened on defense, but rather just kept going through them instead of stopping."

The Cougars made 26 of their final 47 shots, making 55-percent of their shots once they got "focused."

"I told the guys in the locker room after the game, 'Let's build on the second half of this game,'" said Odell. "We just can't keep having games like this where we're flat at the start of the game."

Yet, in defense of Azusa Pacific, there are no slouches in the GSAC this year, and playing a quality opponent night in and night out has not been an easy task for the Cougars.

"This is as competitive as I've ever seen the GSAC," Odell added. "I mean look at Vanguard. This is a team that is basically out of it, but they are good. Competitively, we've been prepared for the NAIA Tournament, but you want to go in confidently, and we're not there yet."

Vanguard was paced by freshman Dennie Heenan's 17 points, including 11 in the first half. His second trey of the game gave the Lions a 14-2 lead. He buried another bomb to keep Vanguard up at 40-36 with 1:49 left in the half. However, it was the last trey he would make, missing all 5 of his long-range attempts in the second half. Matt Davis chipped in with 9 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 22-5 overall, 12-5 in the GSAC. The loss not only drops Vanguard to 6-20 overall but it also eliminates the Lions from any chance at postseason play with a 3-14 mark in the GSAC.