ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Azusa Pacific needed to break from history in order to keep pursuing history, but the NCAA Division II No. 13-ranked Cougars couldn't quite solve Dixie State in a 97-91 overtime defeat Saturday evening. The loss snapped both a 14-game overall and a 14-game conference winning streak that dated back to last season, keeping Azusa Pacific out of the program's top-five longest win streaks. The Cougars remain winless in five meetings with the Red Storm since joining the Pacific West Conference in 2012.
Senior guard Troy Leaf nearly put his own mark on the Azusa Pacific record books, scoring a career-high 39 points with seven three-pointers and a game-high nine rebounds. He ended up six points off the program single-game scoring record (45), one three-pointer shy of the single-game mark (8), and one rebound shy of a double-double, which would have been his second this year. Senior point guard Robert Sandoval added 15 points, six rebounds, and team-highs of four assists and three steals for the Cougars, who dropped to 15-2 overall and 8-1 in the PacWest. Dixie State improved to 10-5 overall, 7-2 PacWest.
"Troy was fantastic tonight," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "He scored a lot of points in a very efficient manner, and he picked his spots well. There were stretches he had to defer and take what the game was giving him, but when we fell behind in the second half, he picked us up. He's putting together a great season, and I know he's going to be the first one to find some additional things that he can do better."
Leaf scored 19 points in the first half alone, adding 13 points in the second half before scoring seven more in the five-minute overtime period. He drilled seven-of-13 three-pointers, but the rest of his team combined to hit just three-or-21 from beyond the three-point line. He knocked down back-to-back threes with just over five minutes remaining in regulation, following up a pair of free throws to account for all the scoring in an 8-0 run that gave Azusa Pacific a 74-72 second-half lead.
With 2:40 left in regulation, Sandoval capitalized on a steal with a layup that gave the Cougars a three-point edge, 79-76, but Dixie State tied it with a minute to go when DeQuan Thompson buried one-of-two from the line after Zach Robbins hit a jumper with 1:37 to play for two of his 14 points.
"We had shots to win it, but give Dixie State credit because they made a lot of really tough plays," Leslie said. "This was a great game, and I'm disappointed we lost, but we competed and there's going to be a lot we can take from this that helps us play with an edge for our next game."
In overtime, Leaf still led all scorers with seven points, but Dixie State got the early edge on a Robbie Nielson three-point play, and the Red Storm cashed in 13-of-17 free throws in overtime to keep the game just of reach for Azusa Pacific. Thompson answered a pair of Leaf free throws by knocking down a three-pointer with 3:33 left, extending the lead to 86-81, and Dixie State maintained a lead of at least three points the rest of the way.
"We've had an easy stretch, and the schedule's only getting tougher for us," Leslie said. "We know what it takes to compete with anyone, but in order to come out on top of these things, we have to make a few more plays on each side of the ball. There's no doubt we have fight in us, we just have to make sure we do all those little details."
Thompson was Dixie State's leading scorer, hitting eight-of-22 shots including three-for-three on three-pointers in a 22-point effort. Mason Sawyer added a 17-point, 10-assist double-double, while Robbins added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Azusa Pacific posted a 38-34 rebounding edge, which led to a 15-5 scoring margin in second chance points, but six different Cougars were tagged with four fouls each. Dixie State took advantage, knocking down 72 percent (31-of-43) from the free throw line while committing just 16 total fouls in the game. The Red Storm's 43 free throw attempts tied a season-high for a Cougar opponent, and DSU's 43-18 margin in free throw attempts was the largest disparity between Azusa Pacific and its opponent in a game this year.
Sophomore forward Will Ward produced 17 points on eight-of-12 shooting off the bench for the Cougars, who led by as many as nine points in the first half and swapped leads with Dixie 15 times in the game. Leaf scored 19 of Azusa Pacific's first 25 points of the game, hitting his first four three-point attempts to lift his team to a 25-16 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. Dixie State erased all of that lead and held a seven-point edge with a minute left in the first half before baskets by Ward and Sandoval trimmed the Red Storm's halftime lead to 48-45.
Azusa Pacific returns home for a pair of PacWest games next week, hosting Point Loma on Wednesday, Jan. 21, and Dixie State on Saturday, Jan. 24.
