AZUSA, Calif. – Men's basketball melted a three-game skid after taking down Azusa Pacific 84-64 on Thursday night at the Felix Event Center. The Blue and Gold led for 33 minutes of game time and thrashed the interior with a season-best 50-18 margin in points in the paint. The crucial contest in the Canyon City keeps VU in the fight for the postseason push, with the Lions (12-10, 8-8) trailing sixth place by one game. Azusa Pacific goes down to 6-16 and 4-13 in the Pacific West Conference. The Cougars have dropped their last seven since taking down VU in their first meeting in late January.
What Happened? VU were not afraid to make adjustments with their postseason on the table; they made two changes to their usual starting five with
Tony Colley's first start since opening weekend and
Sammy Howlin's first nod in a Blue and Gold jersey. Howlin took zero time to introduce himself, piling VU's first four points, including an offensive rebound and putback in the early stages (4-2 VU).
The Lions' 8-21 (38%) three-point performance in the match was started by
Aibigho Ujadughele, who ripped down a board and raced down the other end to hit from the right wing. The game's leading scorer (20 points),
Erik Howlin, also opened his account with five straight points, with his straightaway trey opened up by
Bryson Metz.
Up 12-5, VU encountered its first wave of caution from the Cougars. APU planted a pair of threes, kickstarting a 14-4 run to go up by three with 9:39 to play. The Lion bench laid out a 6-0 run using a
Carson Frawley slam on the break to retake the lead. Colley connected from the right corner to inch the tally back up to 25-21, Vanguard.
The Cougars crept back within one after their fourth three-pointer of the half swept down the chimney. Ujadughele took out his do-it-yourself kit, which featured a rip and solo finish in transition, and
Sammy Howlin turned a block into a tip going the other way for a five-point VU advantage (30-25). The Cougars were able to match the Lions with a 7–8-point split to close the half, but
Erik Howlin's iso game gave them trouble to plot a 38-32 halftime score.
The Blue and Gold sprang up to 63% (19-30) shooting in the final 20 minutes, blitzing the key with 30 paint points to APU's 10. VU went straight to the rack for their first four buckets and didn't entertain a jump shot until the 16:49 slot.
Sammy Howlin and Metz combined for seven consecutive points to bring VU past the half-century mark (53-38), and
Erik Howlin spun inside to finish off a 17-6 run to get the half underway.
The Cougars canned a three to blot the bleeding, but VU ripped off the bandaid with another 6-0 burst, running the show in transition to go up by 20 (61-41). Colley hit the first VU three-pointer in the half at minute 10:29, triggering three of their next four three-point makes. Boogie hit a pair during the stretch and put Vanguard up to their largest lead of the game (70-45) with under eight minutes to go. VU led by at least 20 points in eight of the last 10 minutes of the game, as the Lions returned to winning ways to finish out a two-game road trip.
Leading all scorers was
Erik Howlin with 20 points on 8-10 from the floor and 2-3 from downtown. Howlin makes it 10 games with at least 20 points this season, including two of his last three. Ujadughele shot 3-4 from three to claim 16 points, while Metz made it 15 points and a career-high five steals.
Sammy Howlin was the last Lion in double-figures, going for 14 points, six rebounds, and one block on 6-9 from the field.
What's Next? The penultimate home game of the season tips off against Concordia on Valentine's Day at 7:30 p.m.
