RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific avenged its last setback to Chaminade just five days after the last meeting between the teams, posting a 79-69 victory over the Silverswords in the first round of the Pacific West Conference Tournament Thursday night at California Baptist University.
The victory sends the Cougars into the semifinals, where they'll meet tournament host and No. 18-ranked California Baptist on its home floor, where the Lancers have won 12 straight and went 18-1 this year. CBU swept the regular-season series, including a 75-69 win over Azusa Pacific in the teams' first meeting in January.
After surrendering a minus-11 rebounding margin to Chaminade in a road defeat last Saturday to close out the regular season, Azusa Pacific got back on the plus side of the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Silverswords by two, 39-37. With that effort, the Cougars have won 12 straight games when it won the rebounding battle.
Senior forward Petar Kutlesic, an All-PacWest first team selection, scored a game-high 20 points to notch his fourth 20-point game of the season, and with seven rebounds he surpassed 1,000 career rebounds to become the third player in Azusa Pacific history with career totals of 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Senior All-PacWest third team forward Corey Langerveld also moved up on Azusa Pacific's career list, tying for 10th in program history for career three-pointers (142) in a 9-point effort.
What's Next: Azusa Pacific takes on California Baptist in a semifinal matchup in the CBU Events Center in Riverside. The winner advances to Saturday's PacWest Championship game at 4:30 p.m. (PacWest Tournament Ticket Information)
How It Happened: Azusa Pacific led for all but four minutes of the game, jumping out to an early 13-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game. After the teams traded three-pointers, Chaminade went on a 17-5 run to take its only lead of the game, 22-21, but the Cougars reeled off eight straight points to regain the lead for good. Azusa Pacific led by 11 at halftime, 44-33, and the Silverswords never got closer than eight points the entire second half of the game. For a stretch of nearly eight minutes in the middle of the second half, Chaminade managed only one made field goal as the lead grew to a game-high 14-point margin, 61-47, on Langerveld's three-pointer with 6:33 to play.
Turning Point: Selom Mawugbe, who broke the Azusa Pacific single-game blocks record with 11 the last time he faced Chaminade, blocked a shot with just under two minutes to play and finished it off with a transition layup at the other end to spark an 8-0 run over the rest of the half to give the Cougars a 44-33 halftime lead. From that point on, the Silverswords shot 33 percent (11-for-33) from the field, including a 21 percent (3-for-14) clip from three-point range.
Azusa Pacific Standouts: Kutlesic led all scorers with 20 points, and he also dished out a game-high four assists. Darien McClain hit four three-pointers in a 17-point effort, while Will Ferris hit 3-of-4 threes and was 7-for-10 from the field in an 18-point performance. Mawugbe led the rebounding effort with a game-high 10 boards.
Chaminade Standouts: Four players scored in double figures for Chaminade, led by Justin Bridges and his team-high 12 points. Erik Scheive and Dantley Walker scored 11 points each, while Austin Pope scored 10 points. Sheive tied for the game-high in rebounds to finish with an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.
By The Numbers: Azusa Pacific has won 12 straight games when it outrebounds its opponent and is 14-2 overall when it posts a positive rebounding margin… The Cougars outrebounded Chaminade by 11 in the teams' first meeting before Chaminade's rebounding margin in last week's matchup was also 11… Mawugbe has collected double-digit rebounds in eight games this season, including all three matchups with Chaminade… Azusa Pacific shot 58 percent (18-for-31) from the field in the first half before cooling to a 47 percent (30-for-64) overall clip for the game.
Quotable (postgame press conference):
