Troy Leaf scored 26 in the loss to CBU.
(IRVINE) – For the third time in less than 30 days, Azusa Pacific and Cal Baptist battled for PacWest Conference supremacy. For the third time, the rivalry lived up to the hype in front of a packed CU Arena on Friday night.
The Lancers began the game red-hot and never looked back as they weathered a Cougar rally in the second half to advance to the PacWest Tournament Finals tomorrow night with a 78-67 victory.
“We have to give them credit,” said Azusa Pacific Coach Justin Leslie. “They played with a ton of emotion and passion. The Lancers executed their game plan.”
Shooting 65% from the field enabled Cal Baptist to build an insurmountable 47-29 lead heading into the intermission. It also helped that APU shot 38% as a team and committed eight turnovers.
Kevin Stafford helped the Cougars get back into the ball game in the beginning stages of the second half. Stafford went three for three to begin the second half and Leaf scored four points quickly to help try and get Azusa Pacific back into the game.
As the Cougars narrowed the Cal Baptist lead to one with 8:28 remaining, the Lancers began to get their second wind and put the game out of reach.
The fireworks for the game began early as players from both teams needed to be separated after a hard foul. The game continued its physicality throughout the game as both teams found themselves in the bonus with eight minutes remaining in the game.
Troy Leaf finished the night with a game-high 26 points for the Cougars.
Down the stretch it was a 18-8 run that allowed Cal Baptist to survive the rally late. After Leaf’s jumper cut the lead to one for the Lancers, they made the run to ice the game. Gelaun Wheelwright was key to the victory as he led Cal Baptist with 20 points and hit two shots late that sealed the fate of Azusa Pacific.
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