Bellingham, Wash - Azusa Pacific fell to the Falcons of Seattle Pacific by a score of 75-66 on Friday night. The contest was the Cougars' first of two games at the GNAC/PacWest Challenge hosted by Western Washington.. 

Allan McBride was the Cougars' leading scorer on the evening, finishing with a career-high 22 points on a perfect 7-for-7 performance from the floor, and he also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Ken West (19 points) and McKelary Robertson (14 points) joined McBride in double figures. Robertson also dished out four assists. Defensively, Hayden Gray notched three steals, and West had two blocks.

How it Happened: To open the game, Seattle Pacific took a 6-2 lead, before the Cougars would come back to tie it 14-14 via a three-pointer by McBride. The Falcons responded with a three-pointer of their own to go up 17-14, which was a lead that Seattle Pacific did not surrender until the Cougars took their first lead of the game at 23-22 with the help of five points from West. Seattle Pacific collected the last five points of the first half to head into the locker room at intermission with a 35-27 advantage. 

In the second half, the Falcons used an 8-0 run to turn a 44-36 lead into a 52-36 advantage, which was their largest of the game. While the Cougars were able to trim the margin down to as close as six at 66-60 with just over a minute left, Seattle Pacific would close things out with clutch free throws down the stretch to maintain the lead and claim the victory.

By the Numbers: Seattle Pacific forced the Cougars into 18 turnovers, which the Falcons turned into 24 points. The Cougars only collected 12 points via turnovers. In the free throw game, Seattle Pacific was able to force the issue and go 23-for-29, while the Cougars had far fewer opportunities at the charity stripe and finished 11-for-14 . From beyond-the-arc, Azusa Pacific finished 7-for-22 (32%), with McBride going a perfect 3-for-3.