Troy Leaf leads the Cougars past Point Loma
(Glendora) – Troy Leaf calmly sank three free throws with three seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game at 78 and give Azusa Pacific life and the Cougars went on to beat Point Loma 87-84 in double overtime Saturday at the Felix Event Center.
APU looked like they were dead and buried trailing by six in the first overtime but the Cougars rebounded to tie. The Sea Lions, who rallied late in regulation to force overtime, appeared to be in control leading 78-75 when APU worked for the last shot. Leaf rose up from beyond the arc and missed the shot however the official ruled that Marek Klassen hit Leaf on the arm. Leaf buried the first one, got a roll on the second and then swished the third to tie it with three seconds remaining.
“No, no, no! I got all ball. I promise!” Klassen pleaded to his coach as Leaf stepped to the line. But the official saw it different.
The Cougars then outscored Point Loma 9-6 in the second overtime to secure the victory.
Robert Sandoval hit two clutch free throws in the second overtime.
***Point Loma jumped out to a 13-2 lead taking advantage of several APU turnovers.
***Azusa Pacific took its first lead of the game at 31-30 and carried that one point advantage into the half.
***Leaf lead all scorers with 25 points, including four three pointers, but only had six in the first half.
***Robert Sandoval, Leaf’s backcourt mate, followed up with 21 and was the only other Cougar in double figures.
***The Cougars biggest lead was 11 with 12:25 left in the second half while Point Loma’s early 13-2 lead was its largest of the contest.
***Point Loma had four players in double digits. Hayden led the team with 23, Klasssen had 18, Judd Welfringer scored 12 and A.J. Ussery added 11.
***Sharif Watson led the Cougars with eight boards and APU outrebounded the Sea Lions overall 41-37.
***APU was 8 for 24 from three point land (six by Leaf and Sandoval combined) while Point Loma was 8 for 17 (four by Klassen.)
***The score was tied nine times and there were five lead changes.
***APU improved to 15-9 overall and 11-7 in the PacWest Conference while Point Loma dropped to 15-19 and 10-9 in conference.
***There were 1,985 fans in attendance at the Felix Event Center.
PL 30 36 12 6 84
AP 31 35 12 9 87
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