The NAIA's No. 3-ranked Eagles battled back from 20 down and then fought off a sure defeat in the closing seconds of regulation to rally for a 111-105 double overtime victory over No. 12 Azusa Pacific Saturday evening in the CU Arena.

The victory nearly assures Concordia of its first-ever Golden State Athletic Conference men's basketball championship. The Eagles sit atop the GSAC with a 2-game lead and 7 left to play, and they have their chief rivals for the crown – Azusa Pacific and San Diego Christian – both in their rearview mirror of the schedule.

Freshman Terrence Worthy scored a career-high 24 points, including 20 after halftime, and Joe Roberson added 23 points and a hefty 17 rebounds to lead the Concordia comeback.

Azusa Pacific, which was looking for a season-sweep and a chance to move into a first-place tie with the Eagles, appeared to be easily headed toward those 2 goals. The Cougars came out on fire, shooting 69-percent (18-for-26) from the floor in the first half, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the arc, to open up a commanding 20-point lead at 38-18 following a Scott Zea jumper with 7:16 left in the first half.

However, Azusa Pacific got careless with the lead, and Concordia took advantage of some sloppy play by closing the half on a 22-10 run to get back into the game by halftime. Azusa Pacific still led at the break 48-40, but Concordia was back in the hunt.

Azusa Pacific used a 25-6 run to take early control of the game and held the lead throughout most of the game, thwarting several Concordia second-half attempts to assume the lead. The Eagles did manage a trio of brief 1-point leads in the final 6 minutes but Azusa Pacific answered each time, including when freshman guard Mike Danielian drained a jumper in the key to give Azusa Pacific an 86-83 advantage with 73 seconds left. After a Levi Luster free throw cut the Cougar lead to 2, Azusa Pacific appeared to be headed toward the game-clinching lay-up with 27 seconds left when a wide-open Todd Martin took an inbounds pass under the basket only to have Roberson streak across the baseline and steal the ball as Martin went up for a sure easy 2 points. On the ensuring possession, Worthy made 2 free throws with 14 seconds left to force the first overtime.

In the first extra frame, Concordia quickly opened up a 5-point advantage, using a rare Luster trey to go up 91-86 less than a minute into the period. However, the Cougars rallied and regained the lead at 95-93 following a Zea 3-pointer with more than 2 minutes to play. It was Azusa Pacific's final points of the extra 5 minutes of play. Luster made a short turnaround jumper in the key to tie the game at 95-95 with 46 seconds left to force a second overtime.

In the second overtime, Concordia again jumped out to a quick 5-point lead, and again a rare trey, this time from Josh Kramer, spurred the Eagles. An exhausted set of Cougars could not answer this time, and when Worthy connected of 4 consecutive free throws within a span of 35 seconds, the Eagles assumed an insurmountable 7-point lead.

Senior Demario Butler and Danielian each scored a career-high 27 points to lead Azusa Pacific. Zea finished with 24.

With the loss Azusa Pacific falls to 19-4 overall, 9-4 in the GSAC. Concordia pushes its winning streak to 7 straight and improves to 20-3 overall, 11-2 in the GSAC.