AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific needed a defensive stand to hang on for a win the first time it played Dominican this season, and the No. 14-ranked Cougars held off a similar second-half rally from the Penguins to post an identical 74-71 victory to keep its winning streak alive at 13 games following Saturday's Pacific West Conference win at the Felix Event Center.
Less than a month ago in San Rafael, Azusa Pacific's double-digit second-half lead was whittled down to a single possession in the final minute, and the Penguins rallied from an even larger second-half deficit Saturday to pull within two points with a minute to play. Senior guard Troy Leaf's steal and layup with 16.5 seconds left extended the lead to six points, 70-64, and Dominican never got closer than four until Dominique Taplin banked a three-pointer from halfcourt for the final 74-71 tally, which was identical to the score in the teams' first meeting.
The Cougars' 13-game winning streak is tied for the eighth-longest in program history, and it is just one shy of Division II's longest winning streak this year. Azusa Pacific remained perfect in PacWest play at 7-0, and its 14-1 overall record is tied for the fourth-best start in program history, following 16-1 starts in consecutive seasons (2005-06 and 2006-07) and the program's all-time best one-loss start, which was an 18-1 opening in 1968-69.
"Dominican is a hard team to play against, and they fought hard," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "It certainly felt like we got their best shot tonight, and we've earned a spot in the conference where teams are going to circle us on their schedule. We have a lot of veteran players who set the tone for the rest of the team to know that we can beat anybody but humble enough to know that anybody can beat us on a given night."
Leaf scored 17 of his team-high 22 points in the second half, scoring 11 straight including back-to-back three-pointers in the midst of a 20-0 Azusa Pacific run that turned a 39-36 edge into the Cougars' largest lead of the game, 59-36, with 6:52 remaining. Dominican snapped its eight-minute scoring drought with a 20-point turnaround of its own, using a 25-5 run to whittle the Cougar lead down to three points, 64-61, with 1:26 to play.
After senior point guard Robert Sandoval knocked down two more free throws with 1:09 left, Matt Hayes drilled a three-pointer as the clock ticked under a minute to go to cut the margin to 66-64. Senior guard Kevin Stafford found senior forward Andy Jones to finish the ensuing possession with the shot clock winding down, and Leaf's steal and score made it a six-point game with 16.5 seconds remaining.
After starting the game just five-of-14 from the free throw line, Azusa Pacific knocked down 15-of-16 from the line over the final 12:19, including a pair from Leaf with 9.7 seconds to play and two more from Stafford with 1.9 seconds left.
"We didn't do a very good job finding Troy early on, and we had some uncharacteristic turnovers, but he was there when we needed him in that second-half stretch," Leslie said. "Dominican made some tough shots, but we made free throws and didn't turn the ball over down the stretch. It's a win that we're happy to take because the rest of the conference is looming. A short turnaround leading into Monday's game is the first of a lot of tough games on the horizon, and we have to stay focused on what's in front of us and keep learning and improving each day."
Hayes led all scorers with 28 points, and he added a game-high 12 rebounds to lead the smaller Penguins to a commanding 49-34 margin in rebounds. It was only the third time this season Azusa Pacific has been out-rebounded, with Dominican responsible for two of those three instances. Taplin joined Hayes in double figures, scoring 10 points with six rebounds, while three others added eight points each for the Penguins, whose rebounding margin led to an 18-6 edge in second chance points.
"We only had 12 assists, we settled far too much on the offensive side of the ball, and we ended up shooting 43 percent; it's no coincidence how that works," Leslie said. "The most telling stat is that Dominican went small and out-rebounded us by 15. That just can't happen, because we are a very good rebounding team, so we will have to go clean up and fix some things from this game."
Azusa Pacific led by as many as 10 points in the first half, trailing for barely 30 seconds in the first 20 minutes while taking a 30-28 halftime lead. Junior guard Bruce English answered a Karl Ohrner three-pointer with a trey of his own to spark a 14-2 run that gave the Cougars a 21-11 margin with 8:39 left in the first half. Less than a minute later, senior forward Christian Katuala dropped in a layup to make it 23-13, but Dominican responded with a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to trim the margin to 25-23 with 4:14 left.
Hayes led all first-half scorers with 10 points for Dominican, while Azusa Pacific was led by nine first-half points from Sandoval while sophomore forward Will Ward added eight points on perfect four-for-four shooting in the half. Dominican out-rebounded the Cougars by a 25-17 margin in the opening half.
Sandoval added 15 points, and a game-high five assists to complement Leaf's 22-point, three-assist, three-steal performance. Ward contributed 10 points off the bench, while freshman forward Petar Kutlesic finished with six points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Azusa Pacific returns to action on Monday, Jan. 12, hosting another PacWest Bay Area opponent in a return trip to the Felix Event Center when Academy of Art visits at 7:30 p.m. The Cougars posted a 100-75 road win in the first meeting between the teams in December.
