FRESNO, Calif. - On Saturday night, Azusa Pacific extended their winning streak to six games with a 76-58 victory over Fresno Pacific. The team is now 7-2 this season with a 2-0 record against PacWest opponents. Justin Hemsley led the way with a career-high 29 points, going 11-18 from the FG range. He already had 20 points within the first half which was more than Fresno Pacific had scored throughout the first half. Additionally, George Reidy scored 12 points including two triples, and recorded 3 assists and a steal. Nate Kleppe grabbed 9 boards while Ken West collected 7 rebounds himself. 

How It Happened: The Sunbirds were able to score the first basket of the game before extending their lead to 15-9 with 11:47 left of the half. But that would be the last time the Sunbirds had a lead over the Cougars. Within the next five minutes, Hemsley went on an 11-point run to give Azusa Pacific a 20-15 lead with 7 minutes left of the first half. Hayden Gray tacked on three more points to the Cougars' lead before the Sunbirds finally scored after a 7-minute scoring drought. Azusa Pacific then put together a 17-0 scoring run between Bryce Sloan, Reidy, and Hemsley to give the team a 40-19 advantage heading into the second half. 

The next half went back and forth to start until Ken West knocked down back-to-back triples to give the Cougars a 26-point lead over a struggling Sunbirds offense. Fresno Pacific put together 9 points in a row but it was too little too late as the Cougars were just too far ahead. Reidy put down a dunk to end their scoring streak followed by a triple from Nate Kleppe. For the remainder of the game, the Cougars kept at least a 20-point lead on the Sunbirds including a 28-point lead with five minutes left on the clock. 

Despite scoring the last two points of the game to cut the deficit to under 20 for the first time since the 12-minute mark, it was too late as the Cougars walked off the court with a 76-58 victory. 

By The Numbers: The Cougars dominated on the court for the majority of the game holding the lead the entire second half and the last 11 minutes of the first half. Azusa Pacific's defense forced 15 turnovers from Fresno which converted into 20 points and 10 steals for the Cougars. The Cougars also led with 37 rebounds to the Sunbirds' 35 and were 49.3% (29-66) to Fresno Pacific's 32.1% (17-53) from the FG range. Between five triples from Hemsley alone and two from both Reidy and West, Azusa Pacific put together 12 total three-pointers, their second-most so far this season.

Up Next: The Cougars will return home to the Felix Event Center to face Concordia on Wednesday, Dec. 7th. The game is set to start at 7:30pm.