POMONA, Calif. -- Senior guard Troy Leaf scored 27 points, hitting five-of-seven three-pointers to lead Azusa Pacific to an impressive 92-60 win over defending California Collegiate Athletic Association champion Cal State San Bernardino in Friday night's men's basketball season opener.
Leaf hit 11-of-15 shots from the field, and his performance from beyond the arc led the Cougars to 11-of-24 three-point shooting. Junior guard LyDell Cardwell added 15 points, hitting three treys of his own, and Azusa Pacific dominated the boards by a commanding 50-26 margin.=
"What stood out to me about this game was how well we executed on both sides of the ball," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "To see the way we consistently finished possessions and paid attention to the small details was pretty exciting."
Leaf scored 16 of his 27 points in a blistering first half, and Cardwell scored the final 10 points of a 12-0 sprint over the final two minutes of the first half to give the Cougars a 54-30 halftime lead. Cardwell hit two three-pointers in the run, helping Azusa Pacific hit eight-of-11 first-half threes and 19-of-29 (66 percent) overall.
Other than Leaf and Cardwell, no other Cougars reached double figures in a balanced scoring effort, although four others finished with at least seven points. No player other than Leaf attempted 10 shots, and everyone who attempted a shot scored at least three points. Sophomore forward Will Ward led all rebounders with 10, and true freshman Petar Kutlesic scored nine points with nine rebounds in a productive 10 minutes of action off the bench. Senior point guard Robert Sandoval simply set up opportunities for the rest of his team, registering a game-high eight assists to go with seven points.
"Everybody gave us something at different times," Leslie said. "Troy's start was fantastic, and it was fun to watch how he was playing at a different level than anybody else to start the game, and Robert Sandoval made great plays for other people and displayed a real command for the game. It's a lot of the understated performances that end up pulling the whole group together to a higher level of production."
Leaf hit back-to-back three-pointers to spark a 14-2 run that turned a five-point edge (28-23) into a 42-25 margin with 3:36 to go. The final seven minutes of the first half was a 26-7 Azusa Pacific run, and the Cougars kept it going with the first six points after halftime to double the Coyotes' scoring at 60-30.
Azusa Pacific has now won 13 of its past 14 season openers, and the Cougars are back in action Saturday night to take on preseason CCAA favorite Cal Poly Pomona at 7 p.m. at Kellogg Gym in Pomona.
