LAIE, Hawai'i -- With one minute to go in its three-game Hawai'i road trip, it appeared that Azusa Pacific had done enough to return home with two wins in three games, but BYU-Hawaii disrupted those plans with Tanner Nelson's game-winning three-pointer in the closing seconds to hand the Cougars an 80-79 defeat Saturday afternoon.
Nelson's three with 14 seconds left capped a Seasider rally from a 10-point deficit with less than six minutes remaining, and BYU-Hawaii finished with seven of the final eight points to finish the comeback win. Azusa Pacific had multiple opportunities to answer before time ran out, but Connor Peterson's layup was off the mark and a putback attempt also missed before BYU-Hawaii regained possession on a jump ball with one second left. Petar Kutlesic stole BYU-Hawaii's full-court inbounds pass and put up a three-quarters court desperation heave that did not come close to the basket as time expired.
"We weren't able to attack them in the paint nearly enough throughout the game," Azusa Pacific head coach Justin Leslie said. "In certain spots, we got the ball inside that resulted in some points that got us a good lead, but the times we had chances to break it open, we allowed BYU-Hawaii to hit some shots that kept them within striking distance. We gave up a run that we could have avoided, and that gave them just enough life for Nelson to get hot and hit some key shots for them at the right time."
Joey Schreiber led all scorers with 27 points, surpassing his previous career-high of 25, leading a group of five double-digit scorers for Azusa Pacific. Schreiber, who hit five-of-11 three-pointers, added eight rebounds and three blocks, and Will Ferris came off the bench to hit four-of-five threes in a 12-point performance.
Corey Langerveld and Petar Kutlesic finished with 11 points each, and Justin Byrd added 10 points. The Cougars posted a 39-34 rebounding edge over BYU-Hawaii which led to a 14-7 edge in second-chance points, and Austin Dyer led the way with a team-high nine rebounds.
After falling to 8-9 overall and 3-4 in Pacific West Conference play, Azusa Pacific returns home to face No. 7-ranked California Baptist, which won the first matchup between the teams in Riverside in December and currently rides a five-game winning streak into next week's rivalry game on Thursday, Jan. 12.
"California Baptist is the best team in the league, and my philosophy is the most important game is the next one," Leslie said. "It will be a lot of fun to have a rivalry game on campus with students back, and I just hope we're able to prepare ourselves to give a great effort to honor that environment. We know California Baptist is going to bring its best, and this is a great chance for us to get excited about preparing to play in a big game."
BYU-Hawaii was scoreless for the first five minutes of the game as Ferris drilled back-to-back three-pointers in an 11-0 run to start the game. The Cougars led by as many as 12 points in the first half and took a seven-point edge (36-29) into halftime, and back-to-back three-pointers from Langerveld early in the second half expanded the lead to 11 points, 42-31, with 18:16 to play.
The Seasiders answered with 10 straight points to pull within a point, and Shad Watson gave BYU-Hawaii its first lead of the game when he hit a three-pointer with 11:40 left to give his team a 50-48 lead. The advantage lasted less than a minute, as Schreiber converted a three-point play before knocking down a triple on the next possession for a four-point Cougar lead, 54-50.
A free throw from Byrd with 5:55 remaining capped a 12-3 run that gave Azusa Pacific a 10-point lead, 69-59, but BYU-Hawaii responded again with an 8-0 run to get back within striking distance for the closing minutes. A Langerveld three for a six-point (76-70) lead with 3:09 left was answered by a Nelson three at the other end, and Azusa Pacific's only points the rest of the game came from the free throw line.
