SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Azusa Pacific picked up a 76-59 road win at Academy of Art on Thursday evening, as the Cougars posted their first victory of the calendar year.
 
Four Cougars scored in double figures, led by Selom Mawugbe's 15 points. Mawugbe also recorded his eighth double-double of the season, as he collected 12 rebounds in the game. Entering this week, Mawugbe was tied for third in the nation in blocks with 36, he now has 42 on the year following his six-block performance against the Urban Knights. Off of the bench, Ken West and Gerritt Beetstra each scored 12 points in the contest, as they highlighted a 42-point performance by the Cougar reserves in the win. West went 4-for-6 from three, and Beetstra finished 4-for-9. Jake Spurgeon added 11 points, as he went 5-for-8 from the floor.
 
In the first half, Azusa Pacific held a 21-17 lead with 7:56 remaining before halftime. Over the remainder of the half, Azusa Pacific would go on a 19-8 run. The run included four three-pointers for the Cougars, with two coming from Ben Avera and one apiece from West and Beetstra. Mawugbe also scored six points during the stretch. Azusa Pacific took a 40-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
Through the final 20 minutes of action, Academy of Art was unable to cut the deficit to anything smaller than 14. The Cougars were able to push their lead to as large as 20 points on a few occasions in the second half, with the latest lead coming at 74-54 with 1:06 remaining in the contest.
 
Azusa Pacific was able to pick up the victory in large part to the defensive end of the floor. Entering the game, Urban Knight guard Stefan Milivojevic was averaging over 16 points per game. The Cougars held Milivojevic to six points on 2-for-10 shooting, while also limiting the entire Urban Knights' roster to 38% shooting from the floor and just 7% (1-for-13) from three. "We did a great job defensively tonight," said head coach Peter Bond, "Noah Bundrant did a great job all game on Milivojevic, and really our whole team came to play and limited good looks for them."
 
Offensively, the Cougars assisted on 19 of their 25 made field goals, something that Coach Bond was glad to see. "Our guys read the game well on the offensive end, we were making adjustments in the moment and finding one another in spots that allowed for easy scores," said Coach Bond, "that was a huge emphasis all week and it was great to see it translate into action."
 
Azusa Pacific shot 46% (25-for-55) in the game, including 14-for-36 (39%) from beyond-the-arc.
 
The Cougars are now 10-3 overall and 5-2 in PacWest play. Azusa Pacific plays its second of two games in the Bay Area on Saturday, January 4 at Notre Dame de Namur in Belmont, California. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 pm.