LAIE, Hawai?i -- Azusa Pacific got a rude welcome as it started its three-game Hawaiian road trip, as No. 17-ranked BYU-Hawaii handed the No. 14-ranked Cougars a 92-78 defeat Thursday night.
Azusa Pacific entered the game as one of just two NCAA Division II programs which had not lost a game in regulation this year, as the Cougars' two previous defeats came in overtime. However, BYU-Hawaii snapped the streak behind a brilliant shooting performance from Seasider guard Pablo Coro, who drilled five-of-eight three-pointers for 23 points to counter Troy Leaf's game-high 26 points.
The loss dropped Azusa Pacific out of sole possession of first place in the Pacific West Conference standings, but California Baptist's loss on the other side of the island at Chaminade allowed the Cougars to retain a share of the conference lead with BYU-Hawaii. The teams will meet again on the mainland when the Cougars return home for their final five games of the regular season beginning Feb. 12, and Azusa Pacific continues its three-game trip to the islands with a Saturday visit to Hawai?i Pacific.
Leaf hit 10-of-19 from the field and three-of-nine on three-pointers, and he was three-for-four on free throws, snapping his streak of consecutive free throws made at 49 after sinking his first three attempts of the game. Azusa Pacific finished just 29 percent (seven-for-24) on three-pointers, marking the fourth straight game the Cougars have shot 35 percent or lower from three-point range after hitting 40 percent or better 10 times in 16 games to start the year.
BYU-Hawaii finished the first half on a 22-5 run, holding Azusa Pacific to just one field goal over the final eight minutes while scoring 13 straight points over the final four minutes to take a 48-32 lead. Leaf scored 12 points in the first half, but Coro also had 12, all on three-pointers. The Cougars took a 27-26 lead when senior forward Andy Jones converted a three-point play with 8:21 left, but Coro responded with a three-pointer, his first of three in the half-ending run.
The Seasiders then scored on their first eight possessions of the second half, extending the lead to 21 points, 64-43, with 16:08 left in the game. Leaf hit a pair of three-pointers, but each was answered by a BYU-Hawaii trey, first by Coro and then Luke Alston, before Daniel Berger scored on a putback to give the Seasiders their largest lead of the game, 72-49, with 12:37 left.
Four minutes later, BYU-Hawaii still led by 23 points, this time by a 78-55 tally, before Azusa Pacific went on an 11-3 run to pull within 15 points on a pair of Jones free throws that trimmed the margin to 81-66 with 5:30 to play. Scott Friel scored on back-to-back possessions to extend the cushion for BYU-Hawaii, which held at least a 17-point lead until freshman forward Austin Dyer's three-point play with just over a minute left in the game.
Dyer was Azusa Pacific's only other player to score in double figures, hitting four-of-five shots including a pair of three-pointers to end up with 14 points in 11 minutes of action off the bench. Senior point guard Robert Sandoval scored eight points while posting game-highs of six assists and four steals, and Jones finished with seven points. No Cougar player grabbed more than four rebounds, and Azusa Pacific was out-rebounded for just the fourth time all year, surrendering a margin of 13 (42-29).
Coro led BYU-Hawaii in scoring, but Berger, a 6-foot-8 Utah State transfer, added 19 points while 6-foot-11 BYU transfer Ian Harward added 12 points for the Seasiders. Berger and Harward combined to hit 13-of-16 shots taken inside the three-point line.
