AZUSA, Calif.—Azusa Pacific University sprinted past the Penguins in a PacWest matchup at the Felix Event Center Saturday evening, earning a 98-76 victory over the Penguins. 
 
Despite the loss, Jaelen Ragsdale led all scorers with 26 points, and added three assists and one rebound to his stat line. Jordan Williams recorded 18 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, but the Penguins were unable to slow down the Cougars down the stretch as five players scored in double digits. 
 
Azusa's bench recorded 46 points, and the Cougars added 20 points off of turnovers from the Penguins to seal the victory. Selom Mawugbe neared a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds, while also recording four blocks. Jake Spurgeon added 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. The Cougars were able to race ahead of the Penguins late in the first half and carry the lead into the second half, sinking 15 three-pointers while collecting 14 offensive rebounds to stay in the driver's seat throughout regulation.
 
After APU gained an early lead, Ragsdale helped the Penguins tie the game at 8 a piece, single-handedly scoring Dominican's first eight points of the game. Ken West retaliated with a three to put the Cougars back in the lead, and Mawugbe rejected a lay-up from Romeo Mays in the paint, allowing Ben Avera to capitalize on the other end with another three to boost APU's lead to 14-10 with 14:03 left in the first half. 
 
Azusa grew their lead to 12 when Spurgeon knocked down a three-pointer from the corner to give APU a 29-17 advantage. The Penguins came back to cut the deficit to just five when Ragsdale hit a mid-range jumper. With 2:18 left in the first half, the Cougars erupted for five straight three-pointers to quickly extend their lead to 53-37 heading into the break. 
 
The Penguins and Cougars traded baskets to begin the second half until Brennan Rymer hit another three for APU, increasing their advantage to 20 with the score of 67-47. Jordan Williams responded with back-to-back threes of his own, but the Penguins were unable to slow down the Cougars down the stretch. With 4:21 left to go in regulation, Joey Walsh found Allan McBride under the basket to hammer down a dunk, giving Azusa their largest lead of the night of 88-64, and the Penguins were unable to recover. 
 
Dominican returns to the court Monday to face Concordia University of Irvine at CU Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PST. Live video and stats will be available online.