By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – Azusa Pacific forged a 10 point lead at halftime and maintained that lead throughout the second half to beat Concordia 83-73 Saturday Night at Felix Event Center.
Azusa Pacific used a 12-0 run to go up 26-16 with just over seven minutes left in the first half and maintained that 10 point lead taking a 36-26 advantage into the break.
Corey Langerveld capped the 12-0 blitz with a three. Ben Taufahema also buried a trey with 2:48 left for a 14 point advantage but Concordia scored the last four points of the half.
Mandrell Worthy was four of five from the field for the Cougars including a three and led APU with 10 points in the first half. Will Ferris was hot early on and had eight in the half and Peter Kutlesic had seven.
Tad Dufelmeier had six for Concordia to top the scoring list.
Azusa Pacific broke it open mid way through the second half with a 10-0 run. Langerveld knocked down another three and Kutlesic hit a driving layup to put the Cougs up 61-44 with 9:10 left forcing the Eagles to call a timeout.
Concordia went on an 11-3 run of its own that Geoff Gerlach finished with a trey to cut the APU advantage to 68-60 with 4:31 left.
Darien McClain hit a big basket with 1:08 left to put Azusa Pacific up nine. Dufelmeier countered with a three to cut it to six.
Kutlesic and Worthy both knocked down two free throws with under a minute left to ice it.
The Cougars had four players in double figures. Kutlesc led way with 17 points and eight rebounds. Langerveld and Ferris each had 15 and Worthy finished with 13.
For Concordia Brian Chambers led the team with 15, JT Roach scored 13, Tyler Lacour-Brown had 12 and Dufelmeier added 11.
With the victory APU improved to 15-7 overall and 11-3 in the PacWest Conference. Concordia fell to 12-8 and 6-6.
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