Box Score

After a sloppy first half, Fresno Pacific shot 53 percent and turned the ball over just three times in the second half,  surging past visiting Northwest Christian for a 69-58 win.

Adam Kado led the charge, scoring all of his game-high 16 points in the second half and finishing with five assists.

"Adam was huge in the second half," said FPU coach Chris Wright. "Not only scoring the ball, but just running the team. He's a great leader out on the floor."

Jordan Wild scored 14 points and had 10 rebounds, helping keep the team in it early on by scoring half of the team's 24 first-half points. Deshaun Legree finished with 11 points, while Jerante Morgan added 10 points and eight boards.

The Sunbirds turned the ball over 13 times in the first half and made just 1-of-9 from long-range. Fortunately the team played suffocating defense on the visiting Beacons, holding them to just six first-half field goals and 22 percent from the field. FPU led 24-19 at the break.

"We worked all week on executing offensively, but we came out a little tight and tentative," said Wright. "At halftime I just told them 'Look, you guys are good players, let's do what we do.' We stayed aggressive, but played smarter."

Kado drained a three off a screen on the half's first possession to set the tone, then fed Kenny Bradford for a layup and made two more buckets to put the team up by nine. A three-pointer by Legree extended the lead to 36-24 less than four minutes into the half, prompting a Beacon timeout.

The Sunbirds would continue to feed off that momentum, going up by as many as 19 midway through the half, but the Beacons would try to make it interesting in the game's final ten minutes. Three consecutive three-pointers by the Beacons, two coming from Brian Hampton, quickly cut the lead to ten with five minutes left.

Bradford would draw a foul and hit both free-throws to stop the run and a three-pointer by Kado would put the game out of reach.

FPU finished the game at 46 percent from the field and shot well from the free-throw line (77%), but not so well from three-point range (21%).

Hampton led Northwest Christian (1-1) with 15 points and was the only Beacon player to reach double figures.

The Sunbirds (2-0) will play at the Las Vegas Shootout this weekend against some of the NAIA's best. FPU faces #3 Mountain State on Friday at 1 pm and takes on #12 Westminster at 1 pm on Saturday.

"Mountain State is as talented a team as there is at the NAIA level," said Wright. "It'll be a great test for us."

The Sunbirds return home on Monday night for a 7 pm game with Pacific Union.