Chapman Coasts Past Azusa Pacific

Azusa Pacific University, which had lost five straight games, came to Hutton Sports Center Friday night to play Chapman College, loser of two straight.

You would think the game would be a hard-fought battle between teams looking for a victory, but it turned out to be one that was hardly fought, as Chapman won easily, 77-72.

Afterward, Chapman Coach Kevin Wilson let his stance be known: “I’m not into streaks.”

Azusa only managed to make it close at the end. The Cougars (4-7) trailed by as many as 18 before coming back late in the game, largely behind three three-point shots by Danny Scott.

Chapman led, 70-53, with about five minutes to play when Wilson took his three top scorers--Jon Samuelson, Kelly Huston and Karl Tompkins--out of the game. Azusa outscored the Panthers, 19-7, the rest of the way, but never got closer than five.

Chapman (5-5), which nearly upset Minnesota last week, used a half-court zone trap most of the game, forcing Azusa out of its offense and into turnovers.

Wilson credited much of his team’s success to the trap, but Azusa lost the game on the boards more than anywhere else. The Cougars were outrebounded in the first half, 26-9, and trailed by as many as 10 points. Chapman had 18 offensive rebounds in the game. Huston, who scored 22 on 8-of-12 shooting and had 14 rebounds, did a good bit of his damage with second shots.

“We just didn’t screen people off the boards,” Azusa Coach Cliff Hamlow said. “I don’t like that, and I indicated that to them at the half.”

At times, neither team seemed to want to win the game very badly. Chapman, which took two days off for exams this week, repeatedly let Azusa back into the game.

The Panthers went up by seven at the outset, as Azusa did not score for almost four minutes. But when leading by 10 in the first half, Chapman allowed Azusa to score eight straight points to narrow the lead to two before Chapman pulled away again for a seven-point halftime lead.

Huston scored six points in the first four minutes of the second half to push Chapman to an 18-point lead, which dwindled to 10. And in the middle of all this, there was a 3 1/2-minute stretch during which no one scored.

Nevertheless, Chapman was never threatened.

“I wasn’t overly alarmed,” Wilson said. “I didn’t think they’d be able to come back and win the game.”

Samuelson, who scored 23 and 22 points in the Panthers’ losses last week, scored 22 on 9-of-14 shooting.

“We gained a lot of confidence from the Minnesota game,” Wilson said. “We played pretty well tonight.”