Box Score VIDEO: Final 21.3 seconds
AZUSA, Calif. -- A game decided in the final minute is nothing new for Azusa Pacific men's basketball, but freshman Connor Peterson's free throws with just two-tenths of a second on the clock snapped the Cougars' three-game losing streak with a heart-stopping 83-82 win over BYU-Hawaii Friday night at the Felix Event Center.
The victory not only snapped Azusa Pacific's skid of three straight defeats all decided in the final minute of play, it kept the Cougars in second place in the Pacific West Conference standings at 16-6 overall, 10-4 in conference play, while BYU-Hawaii fell to 12-9 overall and 9-7 in the PacWest.
Peterson was fouled as he attempted the game-winner from the left side of the key, sending him to the free throw line after a frenetic back-and-forth sequence which started on a missedBruce English free throw with 21.3 seconds left. Joey Schreiber's putback was controlled by English, whose pass was stolen by BYU-Hawaii's Justin Park, who missed a breakaway layup with less than 10 seconds left on the clock.
The rebound was nearly controlled by Scott Friel, but Peterson wrestled it away and took it back the other direction as the final seconds ticked away before pulling up for the potential game-winner on which he was fouled. After Peterson swished the first and bounced in the second, the Seasiders' desperation pass was knocked away by a host of Cougars to clinch the one-point win.
"There's no way to sugarcoat it - we had to have this one," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "This was as close to a must-win game I've been a part of in the last five years. Give BYU-Hawaii all the credit for competing the way and making shots the way they did at the end of a tough road trip. I'm very thankful to get this win, because this gives us a whole week to prepare for our next opponent. This has been an exhausting stretch for us mentally, and we'll use this break to get our second wind and finish this thing out."
Peterson finished with 10 points along with seven rebounds and a game-high seven assists, as both teams had five players score in double figures. Senior guard LyDell Cardwellprovided 15 points off the bench on five-of-eight three-point shooting, and Azusa Pacific finished the game 16-for-33 (49 percent) from beyond the arc. Sophomore forward Petar Kutlesic notched his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds, and Schreiber added 12 points.
Azusa Pacific outrebounded BYU-Hawaii by a 42-28 margin and limited the Seasiders to just six offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points. BYU-Hawaii knocked down 11-of-16 (69 percent) three-pointers, including six-of-eight in the second half.
"The way they were shooting, if we gave them any more shots, that one extra shot could have been the difference in the game," Leslie said. "We were scoring, and we felt like we did a good job on limiting their shooters, but they just didn't miss. They made 11 three-pointers, and if they'd gotten more shots up, this could have been a different story."
BYU-Hawaii was led by Friel's 20-point, five-assist effort, while Ian Harward contributed a 15-point, 12-rebound double-double. Both teams held leads for exactly 15 minutes and 49 seconds of the game, which featured 13 tie scores and nine lead changes. Azusa Pacific used a 14-0 run over a four-minute stretch midway through the first half to take a 33-21 lead, its largest of the game, with 5:31 left in the first half, and a Cardwell trey late in the half provided the Cougars with a 43-32 cushion heading into halftime.
BYU-Hawaii scored the first eight points of the second half to pull within three, 43-40, and the Seasiders put together a big rally after a Kutlesic three with 16:51 to play gave Azusa Pacific an eight-point edge, 50-42. The Cougars went scoreless for a stretch which lasted nearly four minutes, and BYU-Hawaii capitalized with 11 straight points at the front end of a 16-3 swing that put the Seasiders in front, 58-53, with 10:52 remaining.
The Seasiders still led by five with 5:50 left, but a Will Ward jumper in the paint was followed by a Jared Zoller three-pointer to tie the game at 70-70 with 4:58 to play, and neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way. An English three-pointer with 2:16 left gave the Cougars an 80-77 edge, but BYU-Hawaii rallied and went up by one on Justin Yamzon's three-pointer with 34 seconds remaining. English was fouled with 21.3 seconds left on the ensuing possession, setting up the one-and-one free throw which preceded the wild finish.
"This was a real team win," Leslie said. "We played a lot of guys a lot of minutes and played with good energy. The stretch early in the second half let them get back into it and almost cost us, but we bounced back, took care of the ball again, and played with some energy which was huge for us down the stretch."
The Cougars have a full week off before returning to action on Saturday, Feb. 13, to host Point Loma, which won the PacWest-opening overtime matchup between the teams in San Diego in December.
