GLENDORA, Calif. -- Petar Kutlesic built on the best game of his career by surpassing his scoring high with a 34-point performance to lead Azusa Pacific to an 82-71 win over Western Oregon Friday night at Citrus College.
After scoring 31 points in last week's thrilling overtime win against Dixie State, Kutlesic poured in 16 points in the first half and 18 points after halftime, finishing the game 11-of-15 from the field including two-for-four on three-pointers. He became the first Cougar with back-to-back 30-point games since Troy Leaf scored 36 against Western Oregon and 30 against Cal Poly Pomona in the first two games of the 2015 NCAA Division II West Region Tournament.
"Petar is a guy who needs to do things at both ends of the floor for us, and he's learning how to be a competitor on every possession," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "Petar has been working hard, and we've been coaching him hard, and he has an opportunity to make an impact on both ends of the floor. In addition to scoring a new career-high, he also guarded their leading scorer the entire game and held him to nine points; that speaks even more to what he's been able to do."
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 6-7 overall this year while Western Oregon fell to 4-6. Four of the teams' five all-time meetings have come in the past three seasons, and the past two contests prior to Friday night's matchup took place in the NCAA Division II postseason.
For the game, the Cougars held Western Oregon to 40 percent shooting (26-of-65) from the field, including a 28 percent (9-for-32) clip from three-point range. The Wolves missed their first eight three-point attempts as Azusa Pacific jumped out to the early lead, and the Cougars finished the game shooting 51 percent (28-for-55) while edging WOU in rebounds, 37-35.
Kutlesic assisted Corey Langerveld's game-opening three-pointer from the corner just 12 seconds into the game, sparking a 19-6 run to open the game. The Cougars held the Wolves to 14 points in the first 17 minutes of the game, taking a 30-14 edge on a Kutlesic three-pointer with 3:01 left in the first half. Kutlesic scored Azusa Pacific's final eight first-half points to help the Cougars to a 34-27 halftime lead.
"We guarded pretty well and did a good job protecting the paint early on, and that forced them into some tough shots to open the game," Leslie said. "Ultimately, that start established the tempo for the game. We really attacked them on the offensive end inside and got to the bonus early in both halves, and that really helped us control the tempo of the game."
After a Kutlesic layup with 16:35 made it an eight-point game (43-35) with 16:35 to play, Western Oregon used a 10-4 run to pull within two points, 47-45, just two minutes later. However, Kutlesic answered with two free throws at the other end, sparking an 8-0 run that pushed the lead into double digits. Western Oregon never got closer than six points the rest of the way.
"They made some contested threes late in the game, but we kept executing on the offensive end and got some really good looks in the paint," Leslie said. "Coming from behind to win last week was fantastic, but I hope to have the lead at the end of games. When we had the lead in that situation, it was important to manage it properly and make good decisions to close it out."
In addition to Kutlesic's second straight career-high scoring effort, Azusa Pacific had three more double-figure scorers. Joey Schreiber hit from beyond the three-point arc three times in a 17-point effort, while Langerveld and Connor Peterson contributed 11 points each.
Western Oregon was led by Bryan Berg, who came off the bench for 17 points while Ali Faruq-Bey was the only Wolves starter in double figures with 11 points. JJ Chirnside added 10 points off the bench.
Azusa Pacific's non-conference schedule is now complete, and the Cougars resume Pacific West Conference play by hosting Holy Names on Monday, Dec. 19, at 3 p.m.
