SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Faced with one of its most challenging road tests of the season, No. 24-ranked Azusa Pacific stuck to its winning formula to run its winning streak to eight games with an 83-70 victory at Point Loma Saturday afternoon.

Senior guard Troy Leaf scored a game-high 28 points, and he was one of seven Cougars who scored during a 24-5 run across both halves to turn a one-point edge with less than five minutes left in the first half into a game-high 20-point margin just over five minutes into the second half. All of Point Loma's scoring in the run came on free throws, with nearly 10 minutes passing between field goal makes for PLNU.

Leaf scored the final three points of the first half, finishing off a 12-2 run that gave Azusa Pacific a 46-35 halftime lead, its seventh double-digit halftime advantage in 10 games this year. Leaf also opened up the second-half scoring by burying a three-pointer in a 12-3 run over the first five-plus minutes of second-half play to give the Cougars a 20-point lead, its largest of the game, at 58-38.

"We've done a better job keeping our foot on the gas this year," Leaf said. "There were times last year where we would play too passive with a lead, but we're learning how to stay on the gas pedal when we have a team down."

The Cougars trailed only once, by a single point (10-9) for a nine-second stretch early in the first half before senior point guard Robert Sandoval countered with an easy layup in transition, and Azusa Pacific maintained a lead of at least nine points for all but seven seconds of the second half. Point Loma, which hit five-of-13 three-pointers in the first half, became the seventh Cougar opponent to shoot below 30 percent from long range by hitting just one three-pointer in nine second-half tries.

"Point Loma is a team that prepares very well and makes you get to secondary, third, and fourth actions, and this was the first time we were really tested on that this year," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "They made us get a lot deeper in our bag of tricks on both sides of the ball, and this game made us a lot better. They made shots and changed up defensively, and they gave us a run in the middle of the second half. They gave us a look we hadn't seen yet, and we responded very well. I'm proud of this win because Point Loma is a very good basketball team and this was a great team effort."

Sandoval finished with a season-high 15 points in his 100th career game, adding six rebounds, five assists, and five steals, and sophomore forward Will Ward turned in his fifth double-figure scoring game with a 10-point contribution to lead the Cougars to a 24-15 margin in bench scoring. Thanks to its balanced production, Azusa Pacific improved to 9-1 overall with a 2-0 Pacific West Conference mark.

Although Point Loma's Judd Welfringer was the game-high rebounder with 10 boards, no other PLNU player registered more than four, while four different Cougars grabbed at least five rebounds to lead Azusa Pacific to a 35-28 rebounding edge. Senior forward Christian Katuala led the way with an eight-point, seven-rebound performance, as senior forward Andy Jones and junior forward Jared Zoller added five rebounds each.

"My success is all about the other guys on the team," Leaf said. "They're hitting me in spots when I'm open, and Robert especially has been great at hitting me when my feet are set. Christian and Andy are setting great down screens to get me open, and it just shows how many little pieces go into just making shots."

The Cougars shot over 50 percent from the field for the seventh time this season, hitting 25-of-49 (51 percent) while converting six-of-14 (43 percent) from three-point range for its ninth time in 10 games hitting at least 37 percent on three-pointers. Freshmen Austin Dyer and Petar Kutlesic both came off the bench and drilled first-half three-pointers to help build the double-digit halftime margin.

"This team prepares very well," Leslie said. "They have a lot of fun, but when it's time to lock in on what they're supposed to do, they really absorb it and consistently put themselves in a position to succeed. My assistant coaches are doing a phenomenal job of preparing them for games and doing skill development, and the players are recognizing those opportunities in game situations. It's very rewarding and validating for the hard work the assistant coaches are doing, and everybody is going in and doing their job."

Welfringer and Junior Morgan led PLNU in scoring with 15 points each, and Hayden Lescault finished with 12 points for the Sea Lions.

Azusa Pacific has the first two of five consecutive PacWest road games under its belt, wrapping up the conference-opening stretch with three games in the Bay Area next week.

"We just have to keep taking it one game at a time, because the next game is always our biggest game," Leaf said. "We learned that the hard way on our Bay Area trip in December last year. We went up and lost both games up there, and we can't let that happen again. Every game is an opportunity to go out there and compete."

Azusa Pacific is one of five unbeaten teams in the PacWest conference standings, while Point Loma falls to 5-2 overall and 0-2 in the PacWest.