AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific's defense drew one of its toughest assignments of the season Thursday night, and it answered the challenge emphatically with an 80-73 win over Hawai'i Pacific.
The Sharks brought the Pacific West Conference's top three-point shooting offense to the Felix Event Center, along with the conference's individual leader in scoring and rebounding. The Cougars responded by holding HPU to 25 percent (5-for-20) shooting from long range, while Corey Langerveld led an impressive defensive effort against Niksha Federico, who entered the game averaging league-highs of 23.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Langerveld and the Cougar defense limited Federico to just five field-goal attempts, and the PacWest scoring leader finished with 10 points on the game. Although Federico collected a game-high 13 rebounds, all of them came on the defensive end as he was held without an offensive rebound for the first time all season.
Langerveld (14 points) was one of four Cougars to score in double figures, with Darien McClain leading the way with a game-high 16 points. Petar Kutlesic and Mandrell Worthy added 15 points each.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 13-6 overall and maintains a share of the PacWest lead with a 9-2 conference record. Hawai'i Pacific has lost three straight and four of its last five games, all in PacWest play, to drop to 9-8 overall and 4-5 in the PacWest.
How It Happened: Azusa Pacific erased deficits in the final three minutes of each half, closing out the first half with a 9-2 run before finishing the game on a 14-6 run to claim the victory. The lead changed hands 14 times in all, switching sides six times in the first half before the Cougars built a 5-point halftime lead, 41-36. The lead changed eight more times after halftime before a Langerveld three-pointer with 2:57 to play gave Azusa Pacific the lead for good.
Turning Point: After playing the first 10 minutes of the second half, Federico subbed out with a six-point lead, 53-47, while the Cougars were in the midst of struggling through a four-minute scoreless stretch. Immediately after he left the game, Azusa Pacific scored three times in less than a minute to tie the game at 53-53. By the time Federico returned after a two-minute breather, it was 8 points into a 12-1 run which gave the Cougars a 59-54 lead with 6:43 to play. Although the Sharks regained the lead three more times, they never led by more than one point the rest of the way.
Azusa Pacific Standouts: McClain scored 13 of his game-high 16 points in the second half, including 7-of-8 free throws in the final 4:13 of the game. Kutlesic scored 15 points and both he and Tyson Kanseyo grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds. Worthy also scored 15, and he and McClain each finished with a game-high 6 assists, while Langerveld scored 14 points while spearheading the defensive effort on Federico. Selom Mawugbe registered all three of Azusa Pacific's blocked shots.
Hawai'i Pacific Standouts: Federico finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points with a game-high 13 rebounds. However, he entered the game as the PacWest leader in offensive rebounds and was held without a single offensive board, and he didn't reach double figures in scoring until the final two minutes of the game. Three others finished in double figures to pick up the scoring load for the Sharks, led by Darnell Bettis who was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and finished with 16 points. David Rowlands scored 15, while Spencer Vering came off the bench to score 11 points with 5 rebounds. Jonathan Janssen added 9 points and 9 rebounds.
Quotable: "This team is starting to believe and trust in what we can do in crunch time. This wasn't the prettiest game, and we really had to go out there and earn it. The key is the belief. I'm trying to get the team to understand that we're a very good defensive team, and we really have a shot to be a special defensive team. We make people miss shots, and we have to keep trusting that. If we get stops, it helps our offense, because nobody goes back and plays defense as well after they don't score. I still believe we're going to hit our stride shooting, but defensively we stay committed. Our big guys have done a good job anchoring the defense, and our wings do a good job making perimeter shots difficult." - Head Coach Justin Leslie
"We wanted to limit (Federico's) shots, so when I was given that task, it took a lot of pressure off me in the other areas of the game because I was so focused on my defensive assignment. I knew my assignment, and I was ready to give it everything I had because I knew my team was trusting me with a part of the game plan." - Corey Langerveld
"We're continuing to understand just how important rebounding is. When we emphasize the boards, we can get an advantage in transition, especially late in the game. We knew every game this week was going to be a fight, and it would take something different to beat each team on the schedule. Even though it's physically challenging, the team has a great approach. We're all locked in right now, and we're excited for the next challenge." - Petar Kutlesic
By The Numbers: Azusa Pacific went 14-for-16 (87.5 percent) from the free throw line, and the Cougars lead the PacWest in free throw percentage in conference games (.780)… Ben Taufahema hit a pair of first-half three-pointers, and he has multiple three-pointers in five consecutive games (and 6 of the last 7)… The Cougars generated scoring advantages of 14-2 in fast break points and 14-8 in points off turnovers… Azusa Pacific committed 9 turnovers, its sixth total game with single-digit turnovers, with four of those performances coming in the past five contests… The Cougars improved to 9-1 in games it led or was tied at halftime.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific wraps up a stretch of four games in eight days with a visit to San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 20 to wrap up the season series with Point Loma, which has won four straight and is rapidly climbing the PacWest standings with 8 wins in its past 9 games.
