AZUSA, Calif. -- It's understandable that Azusa Pacific's usually-calculated head coach Justin Leslie was overcome with a rare display of emotion following the No. 13-ranked Cougars' 99-77 win over Fresno Pacific, which clinched a share of the Pacific West Conference regular-season title.
As a player for Azusa Pacific from 1997-2001, his teams won conference titles every year he played, including his 2001 senior year when the Felix Event Center first opened.
"I won a conference championship every year as a player, but it wasn't until I was done playing that I realized how special that really was," Leslie said. "I've finished second a few times as a coach, but this is my first conference championship as a head coach, and what makes me so happy about this is being able to provide that to the team. This is something they can be proud of and talk about for the rest of their life, because they earned it. I'm so happy for them to have this accomplishment after all the work they've put in over these last few years."
Fittingly, Saturday's title-clinching win came with some of the most important figures in Cougar basketball history watching. The building's namesake, former Azusa Pacific president Dr. Richard Felix, was in attendance, as was Dr. Cliff Hamlow, for whom the court itself is named. Along with them, the winningest coach in Cougar basketball history, and Leslie's head coach during his playing career, Bill Odell, watched proudly as Leslie guided the Cougars to the program's first conference title as an NCAA Division II program.
"Nobody on our team had met Dr. Felix before, so it was special for us just to see where this all started," said Troy Leaf, a two-time All-PacWest first team guard who's a strong candidate for PacWest Player of the Year. "To see who we're actually playing for is bigger than our university and our coaches, and seeing someone like that who we don't see all the time reminded us that we play for the people who have been here, those who are still here, and people who are someday going to be at Azusa Pacific."
Dr. Felix's surprise visit to the regular-season finale included an impromptu invitation from Leslie to deliver the pregame speech to the team in the locker room.
"I always tell the team how many eyes are on them and how so many people deeply care about this program," Leslie said. "Dr. Felix lives in Colorado, but it was clear he's been following this team. I wanted them to know that Dr. Felix was the guy that put Azusa Pacific on the map, and we're a leading university now as a result of his leadership. The building is named after him and his wife for the impact they made here, and I wanted the team to understand that they're standing on the shoulders of these legends who have come before us. Azusa Pacific is a special family, and for Dr. Felix to address them before the game really meant a lot to them."
With the win, Azusa Pacific wrapped up the regular season with a 24-4 overall record, going 17-3 in Pacific West Conference play to finish as conference co-champions with unranked Dixie State, which capped the regular season with a home victory over Point Loma Saturday night. The PacWest co-champions will each receive a bye in the first round of next week's conference tournament, where the Cougars will be the No. 2-seed and face the winner of Thursday's California Baptist/Hawai?i Pacific winner on Friday at 4 p.m. at Concordia University in Irvine.
Not only was Saturday's win a major milestone for Leslie, it was a farewell of sorts for Azusa Pacific's five seniors, who have comprised the starting lineup for all 28 games of the 2014-15 season. The group was honored prior to their final regular-season home game, although the Cougars have been ranked first in each of the first two regional rankings and could return home if Azusa Pacific is selected to host the eight-team West Regional of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
"It's hard not to get emotional, because it's been a long road," Leslie said. "Four years ago, we started planning for this, and I'm glad it worked out.
"A lot of people have been invested in this for that course of time, including guys these last several years who invested as much as these guys to help our program get to this point. The coaching staff has done an unbelievable job preparing the team not only for our opponents, but for doing the stuff behind the scenes that cover my blind spots. We laid out a plan, and they all bought in and executed it. This locker room is special, and there's no group of guys quite like them. Their success isn't as much about talent as it is with how they work and compete with anybody."
Each Cougar senior provided snapshots of their collegiate career, starting with the frontline of Christian Katuala and Andy Jones. Katuala grabbed six rebounds, including three on the offensive glass, in 13 minutes of action, and Jones scored six points with four rebounds while hitting all three of his shots from the field. Kevin Stafford hit two three-pointers to move within two of cracking the program's top-10 in career three-pointers, finishing with eight points.
Point guard Robert Sandoval impacted the game all over the floor, scoring 11 points while dishing out a game-high six assists and leading Azusa Pacific defensively with a game-high four steals. Meanwhile, Leaf scored a game-high 21 points to finish the regular season as the PacWest scoring leader, and he also distributed five assists while registering three steals.
"This was a pretty special night, because we won a conference championship," Leaf said. "Senior night gets emotional, but winning a championship with the team that I love is what I'll always remember about this night. It feels so good to be able to hang a banner and know that it's always going to be here, that no one can ever take it away from us."
Azusa Pacific spotted Fresno Pacific an early 7-0 lead after the emotional pre-game Senior Night ceremony, but Sandoval knocked down a pair of free throws that helped refocus the Cougars, who used a 26-10 run to turn the early deficit into a nine-point lead (26-17) with 7:16 remaining in the first half. After heading into halftime with a 44-38 lead, Azusa Pacific still found itself leading by single digits when an Oliver Herting three-pointer cut the margin to four at 59-55 with 13:12 to play.
Over the next three minutes, the tide turned thanks in part to four steals which all led to fast-break points as the Cougars reeled off 12 consecutive points to expand the lead to 71-55 with 10:32 left in the game. Azusa Pacific led by at least 13 points the rest of the way, expanding the margin to 23 points with just over two minutes to play.
"At the beginning of the game, emotions were a little high, but the five of us (seniors) have been doing this all year," Leaf said. "We've all been here three, four, and five years, so we know how to stay constant and handle runs."
Although the focus was on its seniors, Azusa Pacific compiled a 51-15 margin in bench scoring led by a pair of underclassmen. Sophomore forward Will Ward match his season-high with 17 points, and freshman forward Petar Kutlesic registered a 14-point, 14-rebound double, the first of his career with career-highs in both categories. Kutlesic also passed out five assists and blocked three shots.
Despite shooting just 29 percent (seven-for-24) on three-pointers, Azusa Pacific still finished the game over 50 percent from the floor, hitting 40-of-75 overall including a 65 percent (33-for-51) clip on two-point shot attempts. The Cougars also took care of the basketball, committing just 11 turnovers in the game and posting a 27-15 edge in points off turnovers.
