HILO, Hawai'i – After being tied at halftime, Azusa Pacific pieced together a strong finish to secure a 58-53 win over Hawai'i Hilo to conclude their annual road trip. With the win, the Cougars improved to 7-12 overall and a 6-6 record in PacWest play as they return to Azusa.
Ken West led the Cougars with 13 points featuring three triples in the first half while he was joined by Bryce Sloan with 11 points and a team-high seven assists on the night. Nate Kleppe and Michael Saba contributed five rebounds each.
How it Happened: Although the Vulcans jumped to a quick 4-0 start, the Cougars pieced together an 11-2 run featuring three triples in a row, two from Ken West and another from Bryce Sloan before also scoring a layup to make it 11-6.
Hawai'i Hilo fought its way back to make it a two-point game again before West knocked down another shot from beyond the arc with 14:00 left in the half.
The game continued to go back and forth but after holding their lead for 10 minutes following Sloan's three-pointer at the 17:00 minute mark, the Vulcans scored six points in a row to overtake a 23-20 lead. With 5:10 left in the half, Ethan Speaker knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game but the Vulcans countered with a layup of their own.
Over the next two minutes, the Cougars and Vulcans exchanged points three different times to make the score 35-31 with two minutes left.
To end the half, Trevan Martin and Kaleb Taylor had two points apiece tying the game 35-35 heading into the last half.
The first two minutes of the second half saw no scoring from either side before Hawai'i Hilo broke the tie first with a driving layup. After a big dunk from the Vulcans, both teams knocked down two free throws each to keep it a four-point game with 15 minutes left of play.
Each time the Cougars put together a string of points, the Vulcans always matched it. Up until Sloan and Taylor put together back-to-back scores to bring the game to 50-51 with 5:48 left in the half.
The Vulcans scored off a dunk but Nate Kleppe responded with a clutch triple to tie up the game for the first time since halftime.
Now with less than three minutes left, Michael Saba knocked down a triple to give the Cougars the lead followed by a step-back jumper from West with a minute left to solidify the win.
By the Numbers: For the second night in a row, the Cougars controlled the offense, especially from beyond the arc. Azusa Pacific shot 7-for-17 (41%) from behind the rainbow with five of those three-pointers in the first half alone. Meanwhile, Hawai'i Hilo went 3-for-20 (15%) from beyond the arc. Across the game, the Cougars were 24-for-50 (48%) from the field versus the Vulcans who shot 21-for-54 (38%) within field goal range.
However, the free-throw line still remains an area for improvement for the Cougars as they shot just 3-for-8 from the line while the Vulcans were 8-for-11. Despite having 13 turnovers compared to the Vulcans' 10, the Cougars only gave up eight points off their miscues.
Up Next: After going 2-1 on their annual road trip to Hawai'i, the Cougars will return to Azusa for two home games this upcoming week. First, Azusa Pacific will host the Academy of Art on Thursday in the Felix Event Center with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. then Dominican on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. start time.
