LA JOLLA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific bounced back from two defeats in its first three games with a convincing 73-60 win over Cal Poly Pomona Friday night at the California Collegiate Athletic Association/Pacific West Conference Challenge hosted by UC San Diego.
The Cougars posted a 20-rebound margin over the Broncos, led by Petar Kutlesic and his 18-point, 11-rebound double-double which led Azusa Pacific to a 46-26 rebounding edge. Kutlesic shared the game scoring high with Joey Schreiber and Corey Langerveld who each added 18 points.
"Those three players are a big part of our veteran presence, and they need to consistently deliver for us," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "They all have the capability of playing around the basket and in the midrange, and they can all shoot the three. They're all versatile players who give us the potential to attack the defense in different ways."
With the victory, Azusa Pacific evens its season record at 2-2 after winning one of its first three games of the season at the Division II Tip Off Classic last weekend. Cal Poly Pomona falls to 0-1.
"There are implications for March in every one of these regional games," Leslie said. "Our execution and timing are nowhere near where they'll be in March, but at this point of the year the things we can control are our toughness and grit. This wasn't our cleanest game, but we played really hard. Our guys played solid defense and established where they needed to be on the floor, and that's hard to do."
Schreiber opened the game with a three-pointer, and his second sparked a 10-0 run midway through the first half to give Azusa Pacific a 18-9 lead with 9:07 remaining in the half. He finished the night with four treys, while Langerveld added a pair of three-pointers while hitting six-of-six free throws.
Cal Poly Pomona never got closer than five points the rest of the way, as Will Ferris sparked a 12-2 outburst after the Broncos cut the margin to 18-13, starting and closing the run with three-pointers to extend the lead to 30-15 with 3:41 left in the half.
After Cal Poly Pomona trimmed the Azusa Pacific halftime margin to eight points, 33-25, the Cougars scored nine straight when Schreiber opened up the second half with another three before Langerveld drilled back-to-back three-pointers that made it 42-25 just two minutes into the second half.
Anytime you can outrebound someone by 20, it gives you a significant edge in the game," Leslie said. "We were having a hard time scoring early on, but those extra rebounds gave us some extra shots and eventually got us going."
It took the Broncos nearly six minutes to piece together a 15-5 run that brought the margin back to single digits at 52-44 with 10:43 to play, and Cal Poly Pomona got within five, 59-54, with 6:45 left. Azusa Pacific responded again, scoring 11 of the next 12 points and holding the Broncos to just one field goal the rest of the way for the final 13-point margin.
William Christmas was Cal Poly Pomona's leading scorer with 18 points, but he only had one teammate join him in double figures as Chris Sullivan scored 11 points to go with a team-high nine rebounds for the Broncos.
Kutlesic scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, while Schreiber tallied 13 points in the opening half. Connor Peterson dished out seven assists, and Austin Dyer contributed nine rebounds for the Cougars. Ben Taufahema and Ferris each knocked down two three-pointers off the bench, as Taufahema finished with seven points and Ferris scored six.
WHAT'S NEXT: Azusa Pacific continues the CCAA/PacWest Challenge Saturday night by taking on UC San Diego, which won its opener Friday against Dixie State, 62-55.
