AZUSA, Calif. - The #8 Sunbirds defeated Cal Baptist 83-73 in a GSAC tournament semifinal Saturday evening in Azusa, CA. Fresno Pacific will face host Azusa Pacific Tuesday, March 10th at 7:30PM in the GSAC tournament final.
The Sunbirds got off to a slow start against the Lancers and trailed throughout the majority of the first half. FPU would go into the break behind 38-34, and did not regain the lead until midway through the second half on a Jordan Wild layup with 9:59 left to play in the second period.
The Sunbirds took control of the game from that point on and had a strong push towards the closing minutes to end up with the 10 point win.
Four Fresno Pacific players scored in double-digits to help the orange and blue to the victory.
Junior guard James Lewis scored a game high 24 points (6-11 FG, 2-5 3FG, 10-12 FT) to lead the Sunbirds. Senior forward/guard Marcus West also contributed with 15 points while junior forward Todd Brown put up 14, respectively. And finally, sophomore forward Todd Brown netted 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers.
As a team, FPU shot 58.1% (25-43) from the field, 50% (9-18) from three-point range, and 88.9% (24-27) from the line.
“This was a hard fought win tonight,” acknowledged FPU assistant coach Chris Wright. “Cal Baptist is a very talented and well coached team. We really had to battle and play 40 minutes of good basketball to win this one.”