Troy Leaf lights up the CBU Lancers.
By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – Azusa Pacific turned the tables on Cal Baptist Saturday night. Two weeks ago the Lancers beat APU 87-80 before a raucous home crowd, but this time it was the Cougars who used a standing room only crowd to propel them to an 84-68 victory and to the cusp of a PacWest Conference title.
“We love playing here and we love our fans. I played here and this is just a great school. The support tonight was just tremendous,” said Azusa Pacific Coach Justin Leslie.
Troy Leaf did the bulk of the damage offensively scoring 29 points but Will Ward with 13 and Christian Katuala with 10 also played a big part.
Will Ward slams home two in the win over Cal Baptist.
“Christian and Will both scoring in double digits was huge,” Leslie said. “That’s what we need to do against Cal Baptist to beat them- score points in the paint.”
It was Cal Baptist that actually got off to the fast start. The Lancers raced out to a 9-2 lead but that turned out to be their largest lead of the contest. APU caught and passed CBU with just over six minutes gone in the first half and never trailed again. Behind Leaf’s 14 points the Cougars opened up an 11 point lead at the half, 38-27. After a hot start the Lancers cooled off and finished the half shooting just 38 percent from the field including 3 of 14 from three point land.
Leaf continued his hot shooting knocking down a pair of threes to open the second half as the Cougars built a 44-31 lead. Cal Baptist tried to keep pace as Gelaun Wheelwright nailed a three pointer but Azusa Pacific kept hitting big shots to keep them at bay.
Lydell Cardwell splashed home a three from the corner to give the Cougs a 58-44 advantage. Later in the half Kevin Stafford hit consecutive three point bombs to give Azusa Pacific a 17 point advantage with 7:15 left that completely took the wind out of the CBU sails. Ironically it was the only points Stafford scored in the game as he finished with six.
“Those two threes that Kevin Stafford hit were real big shots. Just huge,” Leslie said.
From there the Cougars cruised home eventually extending the lead to 24 with 2:45 left before finishing with the 16 point victory.
Leslie talked about the difference between the two games. “Tonight we defended and guarded. I felt that last time we just gave them too many opportunities,” Leslie said. “We just have a really good team and next Saturday we play for a conference title.
Wheelwright led Cal Baptist with 21 and Michael Smith finished with 10. APU outrebounded CBU 34-31.
The Cougars, now 16-3 in conference, can wrap it up next Saturday with a win over Fresno Pacific. They are 23-4 overall. The Lancers are 20-5 on the season, 14-4 in the PacWest.
CBU 27 41 68
APU 38 46 84
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