Uncharacteristic defensive struggles lead to APU’s first home loss of the season
The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team found themselves in an unusual position on Thursday night against Cal Baptist. The Cougars were unable to contain the Lancers from shooting and scoring, resulting in a 84-74 loss, their first defeat at home this season.
In a battle for the top spot in the PacWest, the Cougars are now 14-7 overall (10-3 in PacWest play) and the Lancers are now 15-4 overall (8-3 in PacWest play).
“We competed and it was a great game, but when it came down to winning time at the end where we’ve been good through the course of this season, we lost our composure and had some poor offensive possessions, which led to lapses on the defensive end,” head coach Justin Leslie said. “Then [Cal Baptist] put it on and that was it, that was the separation they needed. They’re a good team, but we had a flat spot in the second half and didn’t recover.”
The Lancers had jumped out to an early 17-7 lead in the game, but the Cougars were able to rally back to lead 43-40 at halftime. The game went back-and-fourth between the two teams until early in the fourth quarter where APU went scoreless for six minutes, allowing CBU to earn a 12-point run.
“This one hurt,” senior forward Petar Kutlesic said. “We lost at their place a few weeks ago and wanted to get them back; we had a really good game plan, but they just wanted it more at the end.”
Kutlesic led the team in both points (16) and rebounds (10) on the night. Sophomore guards Mandrell Worthy and Ben Taufahema and junior guard Darien McClain all had 10 points each. The Cougars were able to score 30 points off the bench on the night, but unfortunately, it was not enough.
“We were pretty inconsistent. A lot of guys came off the bench and did well, but just as a collective unit, we didn’t have it, we didn’t stay true to our system or what makes us successful,” junior guard Will Ferris said. “That’s what’s so disappointing – seeing this loss and knowing that we could have done so much more. We’re going to come back tomorrow, practice hard and we’ll be fine.”
The Lancers made 53 percent of their field goals from the floor and hit on 50 percent of their shots from beyond the arc on the night.
“The key is that we have to be us. We defend – that’s what we do well, and tonight we did not do that… we did not make them miss,” Leslie said. “Going into Saturday, we have to get back to who we are and make Concordia miss and then play from there.”
The Cougars will take on Concordia at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27 in the Felix Event Center.