Corey Langerveld led the Cougars to victory
By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – Corey Langerveld scored 19 points and Connor Peterson added 12 to lead Azusa Pacific to a 83-74 win over Concordia Friday night at Felix Event Center.
Concordia got the early jump going up 19-9 but Azusa Pacific stormed back with a 12-2 run capped by a Langerveld three to tie it at 21. Langerveld buried another three to put the Cougars up 29-28 and they never trailed again.
Bruce English made several defensive gems including a block that highlights another Cougar run. LyDell Cardwell knocked down a trey just before halftime to put the Cougs up seven, 39-32 at the half.
Langerveld led the way at the break with 13. Case Bruton had 8 for Concordia as he tried to keep the Eagles in the hunt.
APU picked up where it left off in the second half going up 49-36 with just over 14 minutes left. The Cougars still led 56-44 with 10:59 left.
The inevitable Concordia push came late in the second half as the Eagles roared back with an 11-2 run to slice the Azusa Pacific advantage to 58-55 with just over eight minutes left.
The Cougars then quieted the Eagles for good by outscoring them 12-3 over the next six minutes to go up by 12. Jared Zoller broke free underneath for a pair of consecutive lay-ups to highlight the run.
Concordia made it interesting with a couple of threes late but APU ultimately prevailed.
Big man Petar Kutlesic had 11, Cardwell, Austin Dyer and Zoller had 10, 9, and 8 respectively.
JT Roach led Concordia with 26 and Justin Davis finished with 18. Matt Scott added 12 and 7 rebounds.
With the victory, APU improved to 13-4 in the PacWest and 19-6 overall. Concordia fell to 15-4 in the PacWest and 22-5 overall.
Now the Cougars get ready for a trip to Hawaii next week. It’s not all vacation time though as the Cougars take on BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade and Hawaii-Hilo February 23-27. The PacWest Tournament is March 3-5 in Irvine.
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