Both men’s and women’s basketball escape with victories over Holy Names
Azusa Pacific’s basketball teams traveled to Oakland to take on Holy Names on Monday. Both the women’s and men’s teams continued their stellar seasons with 87-36 and 87-62 victories, respectively.
Women’s basketball
Both teams played a competitive first quarter. However, APU owned the second period. The Cougars scored 19 points in the quarter, while the Hawks who only scored two points, going 0-10 from the field and scoring their only points from free throws.
Holding a 38-18 lead at halftime, APU kept their foot on the pedal and answered with yet another fantastic half of play. Once again, the Cougars defense only allowed 18 points in two quarters, but their offense executed much better as they scored 28 in the third and 21 in the fourth.
When the final whistle blew, APU walked away with an 87-36 victory, their 23rd win of the season. With the win, the Cougars locked up the second rank in the PacWest conference.
Bench play highlighted the Cougars execution on Monday, as senior Rachel Bozlee and freshman Molly Whitmore led the way. Despite both not being a part of the starting five, Bozlee scored 19 points, a personal best this season, while Whitmore scored 13 off the bench.
Men’s basketball
Men’s basketball entered their match against Holy Names riding an 18-game win streak. The Cougars earned a share of the PacWest championship on Saturday after defeating Dominican. However, with a win on Monday, APU had a chance to claim their first outright conference title since the 2005-06 season (not to be confused with the two PacWest titles in which the Cougars shared the accolade with another team).
The game remained fairly close throughout the first several minutes. In fact, Holy Names held a 17-16 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half. Then APU proceeded to outscore HNU 26-7 throughout the remaining minutes of the first half.
The second half was much of the same as the Cougars did not allow Holy Names to fight their way back into the contest. Despite scoring 38 points in the final 20 minutes, the Hawks were only able to bring their deficit down to 18 points, but that wouldn’t last either as the final score favored the Cougars 87-62.
Overall, it was a collective effort that led to APU’s victory. A total of 10 Cougars scored at least one basket, and seven of those players scored seven points or more. Junior Terrence Becvar led the Cougars in scoring with 15 points along, going three of five from three-point range and making all six of his attempted free throws. Senior Selom Mawugbe produced another impressive stat sheet, securing his 16th double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
The victory gave the Cougars their first outright PacWest title in program history.
Despite one game remaining in the regular season, certainly, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will be looking ahead to next week for the PacWest Conference Tournament, which will be hosted at the Felix Event Center. Both squads are guaranteed a spot in that tournament, with the men’s team securing a first-round bye after Monday’s win.
Both teams will conclude their season on the road against Concordia on Saturday. Tip-off for the women’s side is at 5:30 p.m., while the men’s game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.