Auzsa, CALIF. -- Dominican University of California (11-13, 7-10) fell victim to a surging Azusa Pacific University (17-6, 12-4) offense that used the first half to control the tempo of the game before leaving with a 93-62 victory over the Penguins. 

Junior Marcus McCutchen shot 50% from the field en route to a 14-point performance while adding five rebounds and a pair of assists. Freshman PJ Volz buried three of Dominican's six shots from deep, collecting 14 points and a trio of rebounds while junior Garrett Siebels added 10 points and three assists. 

Dominican was unable to find its groove in the first half, shooting 28% from the field while coming up empty on its eight attempts from deep. Contrastingly, the Cougars were powered by strong shooting that saw them go 62% from the field while converting on nine first half 3-pointers, good enough for 64% from deep. The Penguins found themselves even with APU through eight minutes of play after McCutchen finished off a contested, fast break layup with an and-1 shot from the charity stripe to draw the teams even at 13-13. To the demise of Dominican, this tie was short lived as a Cougars finished the half on a 35-8 run as McCutchen and junior Tyler Williams were the only Penguins to convert on a shot from the field over the final 12 and a half minutes of the half before APU left to the locker rooms with a 48-21 lead. 

The Penguins were welcomed by another long streak of Cougar offense as the home side broke out to an 18-4 run to start that half that put Dominican down 41. Dominican showed its grit over the ensuing minutes as it flipped the script by going on a 13-0 run of its own that was powered by seven straight Volz points — two three pointers and an and-1 free throw that capped off a rare four-point play. The patter of long, point-filled runs continued as this time the scores were back on the APU side of the stat sheet with the final tally coming in as a 15-0 run that put them back up 42 before the Cougars left the court with a 93-62 victory.