Cougars Hold off Concordia

The Cougars’ Trevon Ary-Turner drives to the hoop. (Photo by Duane Barker).

By Tim Peterson

(Glendora) – Ken West scored 20 points and Trevon Ary-Turner added 10 to lead Azusa Pacific to a 61-54 win over Concordia Wednesday night at Felix Event Center.

The Cougars led by 10 at halftime and appeared to be in control but Concordia came out hot in the second half and evened the score late in the half. Azusa Pacific hit some big shots down the stretch and was able to hold on for the win.

Azusa Pacific jumped out to an 8-5 lead behind 5 points by West including a three pointer. West scored 10 of the first 13 points for APU as he hit a pair of threes.

Terrance Becvar also buried a trey to put the Cougars up 19-14. Sasha French got loose inside for a jam and Ary-Turner hit two from downtown – the second one gave Azusa Pacifica 29-20 lead and forced a Concordia timeout.

The Cougars took a 31-21 lead into the break at halftime. West led the team with 10 first half points and Ary-Turner had 8. For Concordia Sanders led the way with 7.

Sasha French had a big slam in the first half to ignite a Cougar run (Photo by Duane Barker).

Concordia opened the second half with a 12-2 run to cut the APU lead to 33-31. Josh Caston had 5 points in the run including a three. The Cougars were still up 43-40 after a French basket inside.

West and Ary-Turner scored buckets for the Cougars to keep the Eagles at bay.

After the Eagles tied it at 47 on three free throws by Caston with 8:37 left West countered with a three to make it 50-47. Justin Hemsley followed with two straight buckets inside to bump the lead back up to five with four minutes left. Concordia was never able to recover.

The Eagles had a couple of chances in the last minute after making stops but they turned the ball over on back-to back possessions and APU secured the victory.

After West and Ary-Turner, French had 8, Becvar 7 and Hemsley 6.

For Concordia Caston led the team and all scorers with 22 and Kobe Sanders scored 12. No other Eagle was in double figures.

Azusa Pacific improved to 15-7 overall and 12-3 in the PacWest Conference. Concordia fell to 10-1 and 7-8

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