HONOLULU, Hawai'i -- Azusa Pacific's late-season push towards postseason contention continued Thursday night with a thrilling 74-70 overtime win at Hawai'i Pacific, which needed a victory to remain in contention for the final spot in the six-team Pacific West Conference tournament field.
The Cougars battled back from a 13-point second-half deficit to tie the game twice before HPU went back in front with a Niksha Federico three-point dagger with less than a minute to play. Mandrell Worthy responded in a big way, scoring twice in the final 35 seconds on a pair of dunks inside. The last one tied the game, 64-64, with 11 seconds left in regulation, and a defensive stop sent the game to overtime. Worthy hit a three-pointer of his own and hit two clutch free throws with 21 seconds left to give Azusa Pacific a three-point cushion.
Worthy scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the final 35 seconds of regulation and overtime, helping the Cougars rally to win and improve to 19-8 overall and move into a tie for third in the PacWest with a 15-4 conference mark.
How It Happened: Azusa Pacific battled back from 13 points down with 13:41 to play, knocking down three consecutive three-pointers in an 11-0 run that pulled the Cougars within a basket, 46-44, with 11:45 to play. As quickly as Hawai'i Pacific extended the lead to seven, 51-44, the Cougars roared back with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 53-53 with 6:14 left. The Sharks scored six straight over the next three minutes to regain a six-point edge, but Will Ferris scored all 7 points of a 7-1 run and tied the game at 60-60 with just over a minute to play in regulation. Federico responded with a long three from straightaway, pushing the lead to 63-60 before Worthy took over in the closing seconds.
Turning Point: Three consecutive three-pointers from Worthy, Ferris, and Corey Langerveld capped an 11-0 run that slashed a 46-33 Hawai'i Pacific lead down to two points, 46-44, in a span of less than two minutes midway through the second half. Although it took another five minutes to eventually draw even, the Cougars never trailed by more than seven points the rest of the way.
PacWest Picture: With one game left on the conference schedule, the six-team conference tournament seedings gained some clarity. Dixie State (17-2) and California Baptist (16-3) are locked into the top-two seeds, while Azusa Pacific (15-4) and Point Loma (15-4) will claim the next two seeds in the tournament. Azusa Pacific can clinch the third seed with a win Saturday at Chaminade. Concordia (12-7) is locked into fifth place, while the final spot is up for grabs between Chaminade (10-9) and Academy of Art (10-9).
West Region Impact: The Cougars fell one spot to 10th in this week's West Region rankings, with the third weekly release of regional rankings set to be announced on the eve of the PacWest Tournament (March 1). The regional rankings guide at-large selections to the eight-team NCAA Division II West Region Championship, and the rankings are released publicly once a week for the final three weeks of the regular season. Seven teams in the West Region top-10 were in action Thursday, with five teams recording victories. No. 5 UC San Diego and No. 9 Cal State San Marcos both lost home games against sub-.500 opponents.
Azusa Pacific Standouts: Worthy scored a team-high 19 points, while Langerveld and Ferris finished with 16 points each. Ferris scored all 16 of his points in the second half. Petar Kutlesic and Tyson Kanseyo each grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds, leading the Cougars to a 43-41 edge on the boards, and Selom Mawugbe registered four blocked shots. The last of those came after Mawugbe made 1-of-2 free throws in the final minute of overtime, and he swatted away the potential go-ahead layup from Lorenzo Gordon-Haynes into the hands of an HPU player to give Azusa Pacific the ball protecting a 71-70 lead with 23 seconds remaining.
Hawai'i Pacific Standouts: Niksha Federico tallied 31 points and 14 rebounds, earning 14 of his 31 points from the free throw line. Gordon-Haynes and Darnell Bettis each added 10 points, and Jonathan Janssen gathered nine rebounds for the Sharks.
By The Numbers: Azusa Pacific posted a 26-14 margin in scoring in the paint, and the Cougars also posted a 13-4 edge in second chance points… After committing just one turnover in the first half, Hawai'i Pacific gave up 9 second-half turnovers which yielded 14 points off turnovers in the second half… After shooting 28 percent (7-for-25) from the field in the first half, including a .214 clip (3-for-14) from three-point range in the first half, Azusa Pacific still ended up shooting for a higher overall percentage than HPU, hitting 39 percent (25-for-65) for the game while the Sharks hit only 33 percent (19-for-57) from the field.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific finishes the regular season at Chaminade on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. (Hawai'i time) on the island of O'ahu. The PacWest Tournament takes place March 1-3 in Riverside, at California Baptist University. (PacWest Tournament Ticket Information)
Quotable: "This is a playoff-caliber team, but the reality is we lost a couple games we shouldn't have. We're in the playoffs now – they just started early for us because every game is a must-win. I like the fact that the team is embracing that and competing, and we have the belief that we can find a way to get stops when we need to and find a way to get baskets when we need them. I like our chances to go out and win basketball games. This is one of the best teams I've had from a character standpoint, and I'm just thankful we're still playing meaningful games." – Head Coach Justin Leslie
"I was most proud of how the team didn't give up. That second group went in and gave us the spark we needed to be able to grind it out and play our game. We wanted to be more deliberate in the second half, and we did a better job playing our style. We were able to score out of some timeouts, and I have to give credit to the guys being able to pay attention to the whiteboard and be flexible." – Leslie
