AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific clinched its spot in the Pacific West Conference postseason tournament with an impressive 80-63 win over Chaminade Monday night.
Petar Kutlesic and Selom Mawugbe spearheaded a relentless attack inside, as each recorded double-doubles to lead the Cougars to a 34-20 edge in scoring in the paint. Kutlesic scored 23 points and grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds, while Mawugbe connected on all five of his shots from the field in an 11-point, 11-rebound effort.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 17-8 overall (13-4 PacWest) and moves into a tie for third place in the PacWest standings with Point Loma. The Cougars still have to wrap up the regular season with a home game Thursday against Hawai'i Hilo followed by a challenging trip to Hawai'i to take on Chaminade and Hawai'i Pacific.
What It Means: The three-team battle for second place in the PacWest continues to narrow. Azusa Pacific and Point Loma are each 13-4 in conference play with three games to go, while California Baptist sits in second by percentage points with a 12-3 PacWest record and five games left. The Cougars not only clinched a spot in the six-team PacWest Tournament, it's secured a top-four seed, as well.
How It Happened: The Cougars attacked Chaminade inside, which got the Silverswords' big men into first-half foul trouble. With the size advantage in its favor, Azusa Pacific controlled the game at both ends of the floor as Kutlesic and Mawugbe gathered 26 of the Cougars' 40 rebounds in the game and scored 25 of their combined 34 points in the second half.
Turning Point: Although Azusa Pacific led for nearly the entire first half, Chaminade was able to stay within three points (31-28) at halftime, and the Silverswords narrowed the deficit to two points after a Justin Bridges three cut the margin to just two points (39=37) with 17:36 to play. Over the next eight minutes, Chaminade only scored one field goal (plus free throws) as Azusa Pacific reeled off an 18-5 run to push the lead into double digits for all but 16 seconds the rest of the way. Kutlesic scored 9 of the Cougars' 18 points during the run, which spanned over eight minutes of game time.
Azusa Pacific Standouts: Kutlesic now has back-to-back 23-point games after starting the year with two 20-point games in the first 23 games, and he now has seven double-double (all in conference play) on the year. Mawugbe shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and added a free throw, and he also tallied 3 blocked shots. Will Ferris scored 15 points, his fourth time scoring at least 15 points in a game this year. Mandrell Worthy came off the bench to score 12 points while dishing out a game-high 4 assists.
Chaminade Standouts: Justin Bridges scored a team-high 17 points for Chaminade, while Grant Dressler (13 points) and Erik Scheive (11 points) both reached double figures. The Silverswords' leading scorer, Austin Pope, was scoreless until the final four minutes of the game before he scored a quick 7 points. Brett Reed finished with 7 points and game-highs of 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
By The Numbers: Azusa Pacific posted a 40-29 rebounding margin, and the Cougars improved to 9-0 when outrebounding its opponent by at least four… The Cougars shot 57 percent (16-for-28) from the field in the second half, producing 49 points after halftime (fourth-best scoring half of the season)… Chaminade shot 41 percent (21-for-51) overall, and the Silverswords struggled at the free throw line, hitting just 57 percent (13-for-23) from the line.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific hosts Hawai'i Hilo on Thursday, Feb. 15, in the final home game of the 2017-18 season. The Cougars wrap up the regular season by taking on Hawai'i Pacific (Feb. 22) and Chaminade (Feb. 24) on the island of O'ahu.
Quotable: ""I thought we played a fantastic game on the defensive side of the ball. We made a few mistakes in some places, and they made us pay with some three-pointers, but the good thing is we consistently made their shots difficult and challenged them around the rim. This was a very good game on both sides of the ball for us." – Head Coach Justin Leslie
"I told our guys after the Biola game that it's a privilege as a basketball player to play meaningful basketball games in the month of March. For us, those meaningful games came in February, not March, and tonight was one of those postseason-level games for us." – Leslie
