JILLIAN COLLETT | editor-in-chief

After a disappointing loss against Point Loma Nazarene last Tuesday, placing the Cougars 4-3 overall and 0-1 in GSAC, APU went into their second GSAC game of the season, hoping to keep themselves from falling further in the rankings.

After playing Westmont in what was thought to be a close game, the Cougars pulled away for a 71-53 win, leaving the Warriors with a 0-2 record. And according to head coach Justin Leslie, the best part about the win was that it was really a team win.

“What I thought really stood out, was the fact that no one player was special,” Leslie said. “We had a lot of guys step up and do a lot of little things, and it really showed.”

Senior forward Davon Roberts led the night in points with 16 points.

The Cougars dominated the game with eight 3-pointers, a 40% 3-point FG average, and 25 of 60 FG attempts, compared to Westmont’s four, 18% 3-point FG average and 19 of 56 FG attempts.

The Cougars held the lead for the entire 40 minutes of play, with the game starting out with back-to-back shots from Roberts and Burgess. The game stayed close for the entire first period, and it wasn’t until a 3-pointer almost three minutes into the second period that the Cougars kept a double digit lead on the Warriors for the rest of the game, with 18 points being the largest number of points placed between them.

Despite their win, Leslie sees much room for growth, among both new and returning players, in regard to their interaction on the court.

“We have a lot of new players and they are coming along. Because we have so many inexperienced players, it is taking a little while for it all to come together,” Leslie said. “They are doing a good job at making strides to get better as a team, but is taking them a little while to get on the same page.”

Both the Warriors and the Cougars went into the night 0-1 in GSAC, and both teams needed the game to pull them from their low ranking in the conference.

Concordia, a team the men beat in the GSAC Championship last spring, but that outlasted the Cougars by one game in the NAIA Conference in Kansas City, is one of our men’s biggest challeneges during the season.

“My expectation is that it will be a very difficult game,” Leslie said. “They are a guard oriented team. And if we don’t go ready to go for the ball, they are going to give us some trouble.

The team will play Concordia in Irvine on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m.