Connor Peterson and the Cougars fly past Concordia. (Photo by Duane Barker)
By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – Azusa Pacific jumped out to a 17-6 lead and never looked back in an 84-55 rout of Concordia Saturday at the Felix Event Center.
APU led by 27 at the half and Concordia could never recover.
Joey Schreiber knocked down a couple of threes in the early going and another trey by Ben Taufahema staked the Cougars to an 11 point lead.
A three point play by Justin Byrd and another three pointer by Corey Langerveld put the Cougars up 26-10. Concordia called time out with 9:49 left after a basket by Petar Kutlesic gaves APU a 19 point advantage at 30-11.
Cory Langerveld glides in for 2 of his 20. (Photo by Duane Barker)
A follow up rebound and slam dunk by Schrieber brought the house down and made it 40-20 Cougars with just under two minutes left in the half.
A Langerveld floater made it 42-20. A three point bomb by Connor Peterson beyond half court to close out the half put the Cougars up 47-20 at the break.
APU shot 62 percent from the floor for the half while Concordia was 25 percent from the floor and just 12 percent from three point land.
The teams traded baskets early in the second half and the Cougars were up 58-30 with 11:50 left.
Schreiber went down with an injury with less than nine minutes remaining and was helped off the court but head coach Justin Leslie put him back in with less than a minute left so he would get properly acknowledged on Senior Day.
APU was still up 67-39 with 7:10 left after another time out and although the fat lady had not yet sung she was approaching the microphone.
Concordia struggled all day offensively and never did put together a run as the Cougars cruised to the 29 point victory.
Azusa Pacific had four players in double figures. Peterson led the way with 22 points and Langerveld had 20. Schreiber and Kutlesic had 15 and 13 respectively. For Concordia Tad Dufelmeier finished with 15 but no other player had more than eight.
Concordia shot just 30 percent from the field in the game and 17 percent from long distance. It was even a struggle at the free throw line as Concordia shot just 54 percent. The Cougars were 57 percent from the floor and 55 percent from beyond the stripe.
With the win APU improved to 9-8 in the PacWest and 14-13 overall. Concordia dropped to 10-6 and 14-10 overall. The Cougars will still need some help though to get in the conference tournament. They are in seventh place in the conference (1/2 game back of Point Loma) with three games remaining – all on the road.
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