RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- It's going to be a long 48 hours.
Azusa Pacific's 67-57 defeat to No. 18-ranked California Baptist put the Cougars squarely on the bubble for a spot in next week's eight-team NCAA Division II West Regional Championships. Azusa Pacific was ranked eighth in the most recent regional rankings, which were released prior to the start of the region's conference tournaments.
After Azusa Pacific took a one-point halftime lead, the game turned in California Baptist's favor during a five-minute stretch midway through the second half. The Cougars went scoreless for over five minutes, surrendering an 11-0 run that gave the Lancers a 42-32 lead with 12:10 to play, and Azusa Pacific closed the gap to four points before CBU held on late for the win.
Defensively, the Cougars put together one of the season's best performances against CBU big man Kalidou Diouf, limiting the All-PacWest first team center to 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field. It was Diouf's third-lowest single-game scoring total, and it was only the fourth time this year he finished below 50 percent from the field in a game.
With the defeat, Azusa Pacific is now 20-10 overall, while California Baptist carries an 11-game win streak into Saturday's PacWest Tournament championship game against the conference regular-season champion Dixie State.
What's Next: The 64-team bracket for the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship will be announced on Sunday, March 4, at 10:30 pm (Eastern time).
How It Happened: Azusa Pacific took a one-point halftime lead, holding CBU to one-for-eight three-pointers, but the Lancers knocked down 8-of-16 treys in the second half to pull away for the win. Jordan Heading scored a game-high 20 points and hit 3-of-5 from long range, while three of his teammates each finished with a pair of treys. The Cougars never got going offensively, shooting 37 percent (23-for-63) from the field while California Baptist made the same number of shots (23) on 12 fewer attempts.
Turning Point: Ty Rowell hit back-to-back three-pointers, erasing Azusa Pacific's last lead of the game to spark the Lancers' game-turning 11-0 run. Mandrell Worthy scored five points in the midst of an 8-2 run that pulled the Cougars back within 4 points, 44-40, but Cory Lange hit consecutive threes just before a double-technical foul was issued to Gabe Taylor and Selom Mawugbe after the players got tangled up after Taylor fouled Mawugbe. A Will Ferris three-pointer trimmed the margin to 50-45, but Heading scored 10 points in CBU's 11-1 run to take its largest lead of the game, 61-46, with 4:26 to play.
Azusa Pacific Standouts: Darien McClain was the only Cougar to reach double figures, scoring 13 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists, while Petar Kutlesic added 9 points and 8 rebounds. Corey Langerveld scored 8 points and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.
California Baptist Standouts: Heading scored 20 points and dished out 5 assists for the Lancers, and Diouf contributed a game-high 11 rebounds and 3 blocks despite his fourth-lowest scoring game of the year with 10 points.
By The Numbers: Azusa Pacific posted a 40-34 rebounding edge, its first loss in a game when it posted a positive rebounding margin since a Nov. 25 defeat to Davenport (Mich.)… The Cougars edged CBU in points in the paint (32-28), points off turnovers (10-6), and second chance points (8-6)… For just the fifth time all season, Azusa Pacific finished a game with only one blocked shot… Kutlesic went over 1,000 career rebounds in Thursday's first-round win over Chaminade, and his eight-rebound night pushed his career total to 1,011… Langerveld drilled a second-half three-pointer for his 144th career three-pointer, moving into sole possession of 10th on the Cougars' all-time list.
Quotable (postgame press conference):
