AZUSA, Calif. – Never before in Golden State Athletic Conference history has a player of the year honoree come from a fifth-place team. So either Azusa Pacific better continue its climb up the GSAC ladder or the conference powers may need to re-write history, because Cougar forward Davon Roberts is playing like a GSAC Player of the Year.
The 6-foot-5 senior out of nearby Glendora (Calif.) High School poured in a game-high 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting to lead Azusa Pacific to a 60-50 victory over arch-rival Biola University before a crowd of 2,927 in the Felix Event Center Tuesday evening. With tonight's effort, Roberts continues his torrid pace of play in which over the past 9 games he is averaging 18.2 points while shooting at a .651 clip from the floor. In addition, he's averaging 6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals during that same span of time.
While Roberts typically performs most of his damage in the paint, it was a rare 3-point bomb that finally broke Biola's spirit in a game that was more a battle of wills than an artist's rendering of the sport. With Azusa Pacific clinging to a 2-point lead with just under 7 minutes to play, Roberts surprisingly found himself alone on the perimeter and thus launched a bomb for only his third trey of the season to put the Cougars up 48-43. Biola buckled in response, and the Cougars fashioned a game-clinching 11-2 run to pull away over the final 5 minutes.
"We weren't making many outside shots, and the second to last person on our team that I thought would make a three was Davon," said Cougar coach Justin Leslie, "but he decided to step up and hit a three to give us some separation when we needed it. That changed the tempo of the game and the outcome."
"We ran a play, my man cheated and I was wide open," said Roberts. "I was too open. I had to shoot it, and it felt good as it left my hand."
Azusa Pacific took the lead for good on a Todd Martin trey with 7-and-a-half minutes left in the first half, but the Cougars never pulled away. For every punch they offered, Biola answered with a counter. Eleven times over the final 27 minutes, Biola came within a single possession of either tying the game or taking the lead, but the Eagles never did. Azusa Pacific continually came up with a key stop, a crucial rebound or a clutch basket to turn aside every Biola attack.
"It came down to us rebounding and boxing out their bigs," said Roberts. "They got a lot easy baskets early in the game but we adjusted and got stops."
Perhaps no play was bigger than Kimarley Williams' odd steal of an Eagle inbounds pass with the Cougars' up by 2. He deflected Josh Salo's inbounds attempt straight up in the air, and unaware of his circumstances Salo caught the ball while still standing out of bounds. On the ensuing possession, Roberts delivered his 3-point dagger to move the Cougars' out to a 5-point lead.
The intensity of the game and the atmosphere took a toll on both teams which tired over the course of both halves, but Biola's legs gave out earlier than Azusa Pacific, which fashioned a 9-2 run late in the first half to assume a 30-26 halftime lead, and then put together the game-clinching 11-2 spurt with 6 minutes left to play.
"I did not want to turn this into a slugfest where Biola could be fresh at the end," added Leslie. "We pressured the whole second half and never stopped. I think their legs gave out first. Though our bench didn't do a great job of scoring, they did a great job of stepping up on defense."
Martin was the only other Cougar in double figures, chipping in 10 points. Center David Burgess added 9 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while going toe-to-toe with Biola's Rocky Hampton who came off the bench for the second straight game and finished with team highs of 16 points and 9 rebounds.
Freshman guard Mike Caffese made his only a jumper of the night but it was significant in that it gave the Cougars a 6-point advantage at 43-37 with 10:45 left in the game. He added 5 rebounds and 2 assists, but he best work came in slowing speedy Eagle guard Marlon King who came in averaging 11.5 points but left the Felix Event Center with just 8 points and 4 turnovers in 38 minutes of action.
Azusa Pacific has now won 6 straight over Biola and 8 of the past 9 meetings since 2004, and for the first time this season the Cougars have won 3 straight GSAC games to improve to 13-7 overall and 6-4 in the GSAC, 2 games behind first-place Concordia University and California Baptist University. Biola suffers its fifth loss in the past 6 games and falls to 11-9 overall, 3-7 in the GSAC.
