Sophomore forward Jared Zoller scored eight points in Azusa Pacific’s win over Dominican
Photo by Ken Williams
Courtesy: APU Sports Information
With strong production off the bench, Azusa Pacific men’s basketball sealed a key 71-64 conference victory over Dominican Tuesday night.
“Any good team is going to need production from more than a couple of
guys,” said head coach Justin Leslie. “We need multiple guys stepping up, and it was nice
for that to happen tonight.”
Azusa Pacific’s bench outscored Dominican 29-9. Troy Leaf led the team in scoring a game high of 17 points along with four assists and three steals followed by senior forward Tyler Monroe with 10 points and two rebounds.
Sophomore guard LyDell Cardwell added nine points and two assists while junior guard Robert Sandoval posted seven points, four assists and a steal.
The Cougars set the tone early on with a 11-0 run in the first five minutes of play, at one point leading by 14 points. The lead did not go uncontested by the Penguins, ultimately dropping the margin of victory to seven points.
“We have a lot of basketball left to play this season, and I think one
or two games might end up being the difference between a second or
third-place finish and the bottom half of the conference standings,” Leslie said. “We can’t afford to
play with fire. We need to go out each day with a focus on the next
opponent. We picked up a game on Dominican tonight, and now we turn
around to play Point Loma which is right there with us in the
standings.”
Azusa Pacific entered Tuesday’s matchup coming off a loss in Utah against PacWest powerhouse Dixie State that ended the Cougars previous four-game winning streak.
The Cougars will travel to San Diego Friday for a conference matchup against Point Loma.