AZUSA, Calif. -- Round and round it goes, and which player steps up to lead Azusa Pacific to another Pacific West Conference victory, nobody knows. On short rest after an emotionally-charged defeat to California Baptist less than 48 hours earlier, Will Ferris was almost perfect from the field in a 15-point effort as the Cougars took a double-digit halftime lead and answered every second-half challenge in an 83-73 win over Concordia Saturday night at the Felix Event Center.
Ferris normally does his damage from long range as the team's leader in three-point percentage, but Saturday he wheeled his game inside to sink 7-of-8 field goal attempts of the two-point variety. He scored all six of Azusa Pacific's points in the first four minutes of the game, and his 15-point effort was his best scoring game since mid-December.
Three other Cougars joined Ferris in double figures, including senior forward Petar Kutlesic, who scored 17 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to extend his PacWest record for career rebounds (946). He broke the record in Thursday's loss to CBU, surpassing Dixie State's Zach Robbins, who held the previous mark with 932.
With the win, Azusa Pacific pulled within a half-game of current PacWest leader Dixie State, improving to 15-7 overall and 11-3 in conference play. Concordia dropped to 13-8 overall and 6-6 in the PacWest.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific has a week to prepare for its first trip to La Mirada since Dec. 7, 2012, a 20-mile jaunt down California Highway CA-39 for the next installment of the Cornerstone Cup rivalry presented by West Coast Sand & Gravel. The Cougars take on Biola on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m., in a matchup expected to stuff Chase Gymnasium to its listed capacity of 2,400.
Biola Game Ticket Information: Azusa Pacific's ticket allotment is being sold online directly through the Biola ticket office. Tickets are $6 for seating in the Azusa Pacific section, which must be purchased with the following link: Biola Game Tickets
How It Happened: Azusa Pacific built a 10-point halftime lead while holding Concordia without a three-pointer on nine long-distance attempts the entire first half. The Eagles finished the game 7-for-26 (27 percent) on three-pointers, but its first didn't come until just 13:06 left in the game, as Brian Chambers cut the Cougars' lead to just three points, 47-44. However, Azusa Pacific answered with 14 straight points for a 61-44 advantage before J.T. Roach hit his only three-pointer of the game with 9:09 to play. The closest Concordia got the rest of the way was six points, when Dufelmeier hit a three-pointer with a minute left that cut the Cougar lead to 76-70.
Turning Point: Over a stretch lasting more than 15 minutes in the first half, Azusa Pacific executed its defensive game plan to perfection. After Tad Dufelmeier gave the Eagles an 8-4 lead with 17:52 left in the first half, the Cougars reeled off a 30-12 run to take a 34-20 lead on a Ben Taufahema three-pointer with 3:01 left. In the midst of that 15-minute run, Azusa Pacific held Concordia scoreless for a stretch lasting 6:14. Additionally, none of the Eagles' top-three scorers managed a single point during those 15 minutes before Dufelmeier hit a jumper with 2:42 left.
Azusa Pacific Standouts: Kutlesic scored a game-high 17 points while adding eight to his PacWest career rebounds record. Ferris and Corey Langerveld added 15 points each, and Mandrell Worthy contributed 13 points to go with a pair of steals. Darien McClain scored 9 points and distributed a game-high 5 assists, and Selom Mawugbe grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go with 6 points and 3 blocked shots.
Concordia Standouts: Chambers was the Eagles' scoring leader with 15 points, and Roach added 13 points and 6 rebounds. Tyler Lacour-Brown came off the bench to score 12 points, and Dufelmeier finished with 11 points. Geoff Gerlach provided 9 points and a team-high 7 rebounds.
Quotable: "We've played some of our best games on the short turnaround this year, and I have to give all the credit to the guys on the team for their maturity and focus. We've had to focus more on film work and visualization as we go into the game plan without a lot of repetitions. Thursday night was the outlier for us, because we didn't defend how we've been defending. I was pleased tonight with our defensive effort to get that type of separation." - Head Coach Justin Leslie
By The Numbers: The Cougars took advantage of a 34-30 rebounding edge to produce a 15-6 margin in second chance points… Azusa Pacific shot 53 percent (29-for-55) from the field, its first game shooting 50 percent or better since its Dec. 30 visit to Concordia… An 18-for-21 (86 percent) effort at the free throw line was the eighth time the Cougars have produced a free throw percentage over 80 percent this season… Kutlesic currently sits in fifth on Azusa Pacific's career rebounds list, needing 28 boards to tie Steve Forgy '72 for fourth in program history… The 36-26 halftime margin was Azusa Pacific's fifth double-digit halftime lead this season.
