BELMONT, Calif. – Azusa Pacific won 98-64 at Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday afternoon, claiming its 11 win overall, and sixth PacWest victory.
 
In the victory, the Cougars nearly tied the program record for three-pointers in a game as they hit 19 triples in the contest. The current program record was set in 2004, when that Cougar squad knocked down 20 three-pointers in a win over Christian Heritage (now San Diego Christian). In today's near record-breaking performance, the threes came all throughout the day for the Cougars. Azusa Pacific knocked down 10 threes in the first half, followed by nine in the second half. Eight different Cougars made a three-pointer in the game.
 
Azusa Pacific was led in scoring by Ken West and Ben Avera, who each finished with 17 points in the game. West's performance set a new career-high for the true freshman, who was coming off of a 12 point performance in the Cougars' win over Academy of Art, which was his previous career high. In addition to his scoring, West grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. For Avera, he scored his 17 points off of 5-for-9 shooting from deep, and 2-for-2 from the freethrow line. Two other Cougars finished in double digits for scoring, with Selom Mawugbe scoring 16 points, while Jake Spurgeon had 10 points. Both Mawugbe and Spurgeon added seven rebounds apiece, and Mawugbe tallied two blocks. Ben Taufahema and Terrence Becvar each scored nine points off of three made triples.
 
The game remained close through the first three minutes of action, as Azusa Pacific held a 10-9 lead with 16:56 remaining in the first half. Over the next two and a half minutes, the Cougars went on a 10-0 run that gave them a 20-9 lead. From that point on, Notre Dame de Namur would not draw any closer than eight points. The Cougars took a 34-22 lead with a little over nine minutes remaining, and Azusa Pacific would hold a double digit for the remainder of the contest. Azusa Pacific's biggest first half lead came at the 1:36 mark, as the Cougars were up 51-31.
 
Heading into halftime, Azusa Pacific led 53-35. The Cougars ran away with the game in the second half, as they went up by 30 points at 81-51, by way of a layup from Spurgeon with 8:21 remaining in the contest. The Argonauts would draw no closer than 30 points for the remainder of the game, and fell behind by as much as 38 points.
 
Azusa Pacific 32-for-67 (48%) overall, including 19-for-46 (41%) from deep. The Cougars received 56 points off of the bench, 27 second chance points, and 26 points in the paint. The Cougars were able to score the 27 second chance points off of 19 offensive rebounds, as Azusa Pacific rebounded 54% of its own misses. Defensively, the Cougars held the Argonauts to 40% (24-for-61) shooting overall, and 35% (8-for-23) from three.
 
The Cougars, now 11-3 overall and 6-2 in conference play, will return home for a four-game homestand, beginning on Thursday, January 9 against Concordia. Tip-off is set for 7:30 pm in the Felix Event Center.