Junior guard Robert Sandoval, left, aggressively attacked the basket all game as he takes the ball to Cal Baptist center Kevin Crabb, left center. Sandoval finished with 18 points and seven assists.
Photo by Kimberly Smith
The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team scored a 78-65 home victory Friday night against Cal Baptist, slashing the previously undefeated Lancers’ chance at a perfect season.
The Cougars started off the game with a big lead against the Lancers. By halftime, the score was 42-26 and the crowd’s energy level was high.
“The student body has been excited for a couple days now and its fantastic to kind of see that build up into that kind of energy and it’s something we fed off,” head coach Justin Leslie said. “That Cal Baptist team plays off of a ton of energy and emotion so to sustain that throughout the game, the crowd was great keeping us in that. Our first half, it’s probably our best defensive half we’ve played in years. We had a game plan and we did it.”
In the second half, Cal Baptist began gaining on the Cougars. A 12-2 Lancer run with 13:39 left in the second half proved CBU was not going to go down quietly. APU Junior guard Troy Leaf answered with four consecutive points off a layup and two free throws, boosting the lead back to double digits. The lead never grew past 10, but the Cougars did not let the Lancers edge any closer than six points, holding their own against the team who sits at the top of the PacWest.
Sophomore forward Sharif Watson sparked the Cougars with his famous energy and hustle. He scored 13 points, grabbed six rebounds, snatched four steals and sent away three shots to add to his team-high total of blocks, which currently stands at 27 this year. His performance heavily contributed to a team-wide effort that found loose balls and “did all of the little things,” according to Leslie.
“We got those 50/50 balls tonight and that’s going to be the result. 50/50 balls win games, hustle plays, heart — that’s why we’re out there,” Watson said.
APU held Cal Baptist to 65 points — 16 points less than their season average for points per game. The Cougars upped their performance since losing to Dixie State Monday night, primarily from the defensive end.
“With the two days of practice, just doing those little things again and again, we went into the game with a lot of confidence. They were going through plays and their open offense was similar to ours — a dribble drive — so … with those things in play, we had a lot of confidence,” said senior forward Bert Hall, who grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and added six points.
With 2,819 fans in attendance, the Felix Event Center was rocking. Both Coach Leslie and the players credited the fans for fueling them and giving them extra energy on the floor.
“I think with the fans, we had a great turnout. They brought the energy for us and the coaches prepared us well this whole week,” said junior guard Robert Sandoval, who posted 18 points and dished out seven assists. “We watched a lot of film [after Dixie], went through a lot of stuff through practice and it prepared us well. Our guys played with a lot of heart tonight, they wanted it, competed and brought [Cal Baptist] their first loss.”
After the big win, Azusa Pacific now holds a 10-6 overall record and a 6-4 conference record, while Cal Baptist stays atop the PacWest Conference with a 16-1 overall record and a 10-1 conference record. The Cougars will travel to Hawai’i for games against BYU-Hawaii, Hawai’i Pacific and Chaminade, with the first of the three games starting on Thursday.