Friday, March 11, 2016
by Evan O'Kelly

MONMOUTH, Ore. – A 16-0 run that ate up the final six minutes of the first half lifted the Azusa Pacific University Cougars to a 77-66 victory over Seattle Pacific University in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Region Men’s Basketball Championships Friday evening at the New P.E. Building on the campus of Western Oregon University.

The Cougars used a 16-0 run to build a 36-24 halftime lead, as the Falcons failed to score in the final 5:53 of the opening half. SPU got within seven points with 8:50 to go in the game, but the advantage proved to be too great to overcome as APU closed out their 23rd victory of the year.

The reigning NCAA West Region champion Cougars advance to the second round and will play the winner of No. 1 Western Oregon against No. 8 Humboldt State in Friday’s nightcap.

Corey Langerveld led the Cougars with 17 points, and LyDell Cardwell chipped in 14 off of the bench. Austin Dyer just missed a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds, and Connor Peterson had 11 points for APU (23-8).

The Falcons (22-9) were led by senior Mitch Penner, who scored 19 points and finished his career as the 11th-leading scorer in SPU history. Bryce Leavitt had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and also chipped in a game-high five assists. The Falcons were hampered by 15 turnovers, which the Cougars turned into 15 points.

The game featured seven ties in the opening 10 minutes, as the teams battled to the score of 17-17. A pair of foul shots by Gilles Dierickx gave SPU its largest lead of the half at 24-20, but the Falcons went cold after that with a mark of 0-for-6 from the field the rest of the period. Peterson drilled a three off of an SPU turnover, and Petar Kutlesic sank a turn-around jumper at the buzzer as APU completed its scoring spree.

The Falcons entered the game as the No. 1 team in the NCAA in rebounding margin at plus-11 and won the battle of the boards 37-33. SPU shot just 37.3 percent from the field (22-for-59) and 20.0 percent from 3-point range (4-for-20), while APU made 50.0 percent of its shots (24-for-48).

It was the most lopsided loss of the season for the Falcons, whose previous largest margin of defeat was eight points. SPU defeated APU 71-54 earlier this season in December, but the tables turned in the second meeting of the year between the teams.

TOURNEY TALK: The Cougars are now 4-1 all-time in tournament games, and have never lost a regional tournament game…the Falcons continue to hold the longest streak of tournament appearances, as this season marked the 12th in-a-row that the west region field included SPU.

FRIDAY TOURNEY SCHEDULE

FINAL: Game 1 – No. 3 Cal Baptist 70, No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona 63 | Box Score

FINAL: Game 2 – No. 2 UC San Diego 76, No. 7 Chico State 64 | Box Score

5 PM: Game 3 – No. 5 Azusa Pacific 77, No. 4 Seattle Pacific 66 | Box Score

7:30 PM: Game 4 – No. 8 Humboldt State vs. No. 1 Western Oregon

 *All times Pacific