AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific kept pace among the Pacific West Conference leaders with a convincing 30-point win Saturday night, keeping the Cougars within a half-game of second place in the conference standings after an 87-57 victory over Dominican.

Petar Kutlesic scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, and he added 6 rebounds and 4 assists. More importantly, he rediscovered his long-distance shooting stroke by hitting 3-for-4 three-pointers, marking the first game this season he made more than one three-pointer.

Three other Cougars scored in double figures, with Mandrell Worthy scoring 15 points off the bench while Will Ferris buried four three-pointers in a 14-point effort. Darien McClain added 12 points with a game-high 7 assists.

With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 16-8 overall and 12-4 in PacWest play. Dominican drops to 5-17 overall and 4-11 in PacWest play.

What It Means: A three-team battle for second place in the PacWest is beginning to take shape for the final two weeks of the regular season. With four games left, the Cougars sit a half-game behind both California Baptist (five games left) and Point Loma (three games left).

How It Happened: Azusa Pacific's defensive pressure produced 15 turnovers, which in turn led to a 20-6 scoring margin in points off turnovers. After Dominican shot 48 percent (12-for-25) in the first half, the Cougar defense tightened the screws to limit the Penguins to a 23-point second half on 31 percent (9-for-29) shooting. For the game, Dominican was held to 3-of-16 (19 percent) shooting from three-point range.

Turning Point: After taking a nine-point halftime edge, Azusa Pacific quickly took control of the game, starting the second half with a 13-0 run in the first three minutes to take a commanding 56-34 lead with 17:04 remaining. The Cougars led by at least 16 points the rest of the way. Technically, it was a 15-0 run with a Kutlesic tip-in with 3.5 seconds left in the first half, and four different players contributed to the run, which consumed just three minutes of the game clock.

Azusa Pacific Standouts: Kutlesic posted his third 20-point game of the season, coming within 2 points of his season-high (25), and Worthy was the second-leading scorer with 15 points in just 17 minutes of action. Worthy scored 13 of his points in the first half, helping Azusa Pacific gain control of the game early, and McClain's 12-point, 7-assist game was also his second consecutive game without a turnover. Selom Mawugbe grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds, and Tyson Kanseyo came off the bench to haul in 7 rebounds as the Cougars posted a 44-35 rebounding margin. Corey Langerveld, who reached 1,000 career points in last week's defeat to Biola, added 9 points and 6 rebounds, moving to 1,019 career points.

Dominican Standouts: Jeremiah Gray led the Penguins with 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting, including an 0-for-6 clip on three-pointers. Reverend Maduakor and Cedric Thomas added 11 points each, while Christian Futch notched game-highs with 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.

By The Numbers: Azusa Pacific's six turnovers were its third-fewest in a game this year… The Cougars shot 50 percent (17-for-34) from the field in the second half, outscoring Dominican 44-23 after halftime… The 30-point margin of victory was Azusa Pacific's second-largest of the season behind its 33-point road win at Notre Dame de Namur (Dec. 18), and the 21-point second-half scoring margin was also its second-largest of the season, trailing only the 49-24 second-half scoring spread against Academy of Art (Nov. 30)… Azusa Pacific held an opponent to a three-point shooting percentage below 20 percent for the fourth time this season.