POMONA, Calif. -- If Saturday's overtime classic between Azusa Pacific and Cal Poly Pomona was any indication, the Cougars' 81-78 defeat to NCAA Division II's eighth-ranked Broncos may very well end up serving as an early-season preview of an eventual NCAA West Region clash of significance a few months down the road.
"This was an unbelievable game with big plays by both teams at both ends of the floor," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "I think Cal Poly Pomona is as good a team as we're going to play all year. They're picked to win their conference, and nothing I saw made me think otherwise, and they played well to beat us tonight. This season is going to be a fun ride if we continue to play this way."
A 10-0 run over the final four minutes of the first half put Azusa Pacific in control with a 41-35 halftime lead, and the Cougars controlled all but the last five minutes of the second half. Senior guard Troy Leaf followed his 27-point season opener with another 20-point effort against Cal Poly Pomona, and his fast break layup with 4:32 to play capped an 11-4 run which gave Azusa Pacific an 11-point advantage at 71-60.
However, it was Cal Poly Pomona's turn to finish the half with a double-digit flurry, answering the deficit with 11 straight points to tie the game at 71-71 with 1:33 to play. Both teams turned the ball over once and missed their only shot attempts in the final stretch of regulation to send the game to overtime.
The extra period started with a Terrence Drisdom three-pointer that put the Broncos in front, 74-71, but the teams went scoreless until the final two minutes of overtime when senior point guard Robert Sandoval scored two of his 14 points on a layup with 1:40 to play. Just 35 seconds later, Leaf knocked down a three-shot foul to pull the Cougars even at 76-76 with 1:05 remaining.
Cal Poly Pomona got to the free throw line on each of its final three possessions of overtime, knocking down its final five free throws while Azusa Pacific kept the Broncos within reach when freshman Petar Kutlesic put back a miss with 11 seconds to play to cut the lead to 79-78. Rhon Mitchell pushed the lead back to three with two free throws with 8.9 seconds left, and a Kutlesic three-point try at the buzzer was off the mark and would not have counted anyway as it did not get up before time expired.
"We had our opportunities and we just missed them," Leslie said. "It hurts right now to be on this side of it, but we battled back from the adversity we faced, and there's a lot we can learn from this game. I'm proud of my team, and they're a great group of guys who I love coaching."
Drisdom led all scorers by providing the Broncos 27 points, and he added team-highs of nine rebounds and five steals, while Mitchell came off the bench for 16 points. The pair combined to score all 10 of Cal Poly Pomona's points in overtime.
Leaf and Sandoval were the only Cougars in double figures, although Kutlesic scored nine points for the second straight game and junior forward Jared Zoller also finished with nine. Leaf led Azusa Pacific to a 41-34 rebounding edge with a game-high 11 boards to go with six assists, while Sandoval registered five rebounds and a game-high seven assists.
The Cougars host Occidental (NCAA Division III) in Tuesday's home opener, which precedes another pair of regional inter-conference matchups against Western Oregon and St. Martin's next weekend (Nov. 21-22) in Monmouth, Ore.
