Cougars Rout Concordia

Selom Mawugbe soars in for two of his 16 points. (Photo by Duane Barker).

By Tim Peterson
(Glendora) – Azusa Pacific went on a 17-2 run out of the gate and led from start to finish in a 95-62 rout of Concordia Thursday night at Felix Event Center.

Noah Bundrant scored six points to get the Cougars off and running and Jake Spurgeon knocked down a three. Selom Mawugbe also threw down a rim rattling jam to ignite the crowd.

Concordia then went on a 7-0 run to cut the Cougar lead 17-9 and was able to keep pace the rest of the half but Azusa Pacific maintained a 42-30 lead heading into the break.
Bundrant and Brennan Rymer each had eight to lead the Cougs in the first half while Mawugbe had six down in the paint. Ben Tafahema hit a three and had five at the half.
For Concordia Andre Green tossed in seven while Robert McCoy and Kayle Knuckles each had five.

Mawugbe’s jam early in the second half put the Cougars up 44-32. Later in the half Taufahema buried a three from downtown to make it 49-32 as APU opened it up.
Ben Avera was true on another three and when Bundrant hit a couple of free throws at the 12:23 mark the Cougars had blown it up to a 20 point lead at 63-43.

Another trey and a follow up basket by Terrance Becvar forced Concordia to call a time out down 68-45 with 11:06 left. The Eagles never did gather any momentum and Azusa Pacific rolled to the 33 point victory.

Brennan Rymer led the Cougars with 18. (Photo by Duane Barker).

Mawugbe slammed home a couple more down the stretch including one at the 4:37 mark that gave the Cougars 30 point lead at 83-53.

Mawugbe, the 6-10 senior from Canyon Country, was 7 for 7 from the field and finished with 16 points. Rymer led the Cougars with 18 points and also dished out 11 assists. Spurgeon and Bundrant had 12, Ben Avera hit three from distance for 9 and Taufahema had a pair of threes and added eight points.

For the Eagles McCoy led the way with 18 and Green had 13 but no other player was in double figures.

Azusa Pacific was hot all night shooting 68 percent from the field and 57 percent from three point land. Concordia shot just 32 percent from the floor and 22 percent from beyond the arc.

With the victory APU improved to 12-3 overall and 7-2 in the PacWest Conference. The Cougars have won seven straight. Concordia fell to 11-4 but is still 5-1 in conference.

Leave a Reply