King and Butler counter-punched Westmont from both sides of the offensive end, combining for 43 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and no turnovers to lead the NAIA's No. 15-ranked Cougars into the semifinals of the GSAC Tourney for the eighth straight year. King tallied 13 of his team-high 22 points in the second half, leading the Cougars on a 16-3 run that put Azusa Pacific in the driver's seat at 78-61 midway through the second half. Butler fashioned his second straight complete game, tallying 21 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.

"We wanted to attack their wings and both Tristan and Demario got after it tonight," said Azusa Pacific coach Bill Odell. "They were really focused, partly I think because they knew it was their last game in the Felix Event Center and they wanted to go out on a good note."

The King-Butler effort offset a career-high night by Westmont's All-GSAC center Santiago Aguirre, who was sterling in his performance with 31 points on 11-for-13 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds and a pair of assists."

"That's why I nominated him for conference player of the year," said Odell after looking at Aguirre's stats. "He is really good."

The Cougars led by 11 in the first half following a Butler lay-up that put Azusa Pacific up 40-29 with 6 minutes remaining. However, Warrior guard Tyler Dutton caught fire, igniting a 15-2 Warrior sprint in less than 4 minutes by scoring 9 of his 16 first-half points. His lay-up gave the Warriors a short-lived 44-42 advantage. Azusa Pacific awoke from its slumber and regained a 48-44 advantage, but Josh Ware's corner trey with 5 seconds left knotted the game at 49-49 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the Cougars took the lead for good at 53-51 on a Brice Prather lay-up over Aguirre. Scott Zea followed with a breakaway dunk and when King put back a Khalif Ford errant trey, Azusa Pacific had some breathing space at 57-51.

"We did a great job on the offensive boards tonight," Odell added. "That's where our athleticism at the wings really showed up."

The Cougars snagged 10 offensive rebounds in the second half, resulting in a bonus 15 points in the frame.

King came up with another critical put back to highlight a 3-point play that snapped a 9-0 Westmont run and pushed the Cougar lead back to 8 at 87-79 with 5-and-a-half minutes left in the game. In all, 9 of the 15 King-Butler rebounds came at the offensive end.

Even with Aguirre's presence, Azusa Pacific was still effective in the paint, tallying 44 points in the key, 10 of which came off fast breaks.

"We have an advantage over a lot of other teams with our athleticism, particularly with Demario and Tristan," said Zea, who aided King and Butler with 16 points of his own. "When we run, we're hard to stop, and if Todd (Martin) and I are hitting our shots on the perimeter, it makes even harder to beat us."

Ford finished with 14 points despite playing the final 8 minutes with 4 fouls. He buried a game-clinching trey from the right side with 4:32 remaining to give the Cougars a 90-81 advantage. Freshman guard Mike Danielian chipped in with 10 points and a career-high 8 rebounds.

For only the second time in the series' 36-year, 76-game history, Azusa Pacific tallies 100 points on a Westmont squad.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 25-6 and now meets San Diego Christian in the first of 2 GSAC Tourney semifinals at Hope International University in Fullerton, Saturday (March 3) at 5:30 p.m. The other semi matches Point Loma Nazarene against Concordia at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's winners advance to Tuesday's (March 6) championship game, also at Hope International.