By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – Azusa Pacific jumped out to a 17 point halftime lead and then withstood a furious Chaminade rally early in the second half and eventually pulled away to a 86-65 Monday night at Felix Event Center.
Bruce English led the Cougars with 17 points and Robert Sandoval added 15. The Cougars hit ten three pointers in the first half and 15 for the game. English and Sandoval each nailed three from beyond the arc. Kevin Stafford also hit three treys and finished with nine points.
Things got interesting when Chaminade outscored APU 18-1 to open the second half cutting the lead to four with 13:50 left. But the Cougars responded with a 14-0 run to go back up by 18 and secure the victory.
Azusa Pacific was in control throughout the first half. The Cougar led 19-10 early and increased it to 49-32 by the break. They were red hot from the land of plenty shooting 10 of 19 from downtown in the first half. While APU was lighting it up Chaminade struggled to find its way. The Silverswords were just 2 of 12 from three point land (16.7 %) and 11 of 33 from the field overall which accounted for the big deficit.
But things suddenly changed in the second half. Chaminade came out of the gate smoking scoring the first nine points to cut it to eight. The lead was then sliced to 54-50 and the Cougars appeared to be on the ropes. But just as quickly the tide turned again. Lydell Cardwell hit a couple of threes and English soared in for a lay-up and just like that it was APU on a 14-0 run, the lead was back up to 18 at 68-50 and all was well in Cougarville.
The Silverswords could never recover from the blitz and the Cougars went on to the 21 point win. APU ended up shooting 45 percent from three point range for the game and 45 percent from the field. Despite the run Chaminade was still only 21 percent from the three point line (4-19) and 37 percent from the field.
Troy Leaf with 11 and Petar Kutlesic (10) were also in double figures for the Cougars. Sandoval, from the guard position, led Azusa Pacific with seven rebounds. Frankie Eteuati took scoring honors for Chaminade with 19 and Kiran Shastri added 13. Eteuati pulled down a game high 15 rebounds.
With the victory the Cougars remained on top of the PacWest Coference with a record of 15-3. They’re 22-4 overall. Chaminade is 6-11, 9-14.
C 32 33 65
AP 49 37 86
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