AZUSA, Calif. – A cold second half of shooting cost Azusa Pacific its comeback bid in its home opener, as the Cougars suffered a 75-66 loss to Cal State San Marcos Saturday night at the Felix Event Center.

Sophomore guard Will Ferris scored a team-high 17 points off the bench, while Austin Dyer added 14 points with a team-high 9 rebounds for the Cougars, who shot 43 percent (21-for-58) overall and 13 percent (3-for-23) from three-point range.

"This game was lost for us on the offensive end," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "We got the looks we wanted, but we just couldn't hit them. I give San Marcos credit because they defended hard, but we missed a lot of layups. We ran plays out of timeouts to get specific looks, and we got those looks and couldn't score. We had multiple opportunities to get over the hump in the second half to take the lead or tie it, and we just missed each time."

Ferris tied the game at 46-46 with 12:43 left in the game with a three-pointer which capped a 14-5 run, but Cal State San Marcos scored nine of the next 10 points to expand the lead back to eight points. A Connor Peterson three with 9:23 left pulled the Cougars within three, 55-52, and a pair of Corey Langerveld free throws with 6:13 to play again made it a three-point margin.

However, the only shot Azusa Pacific hit from the field over the final six minutes of the game was a Peterson two-point jumper with 46 seconds left in the game to cut CSUSM's lead to 70-64. Cal State sealed the win by hitting seven-of-eight free throws in the final minute.

"This is a young, inexperienced team, and there are newer guys who are playing, while a lot of the returning players to our team are learning new roles, too," Leslie said. "What I'd like to see from the team is a continued effort to get better. We're not where we need to be, and the only way we're going to get there is by having good practices and keep improving every day."

With the loss, Azusa Pacific fell to 2-4 overall while Cal State San Marcos improved to 3-1 on the season.

WHAT'S NEXT: Azusa Pacific has three home games next week, starting with a Tuesday night matchup against Bethesda. The Cougars welcome Seattle Pacific and Cal State L.A. to the Felix Event Center for next weekend's Cougar Classic.