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Top seed Fresno Pacific earned a spot in the National Christian College (NCCAA) Tournament in Indiana next week, claiming the NCCAA West Region title with an exciting 109-105 win over #2-seed Azusa Pacific.

The Sunbirds had a lot to play for on Wednesday night. The team was looking to complete an undefeated home season, win 20 games for just the eighth time in school history and win the West Region title to earn a spot in a tournament that will be held close to home for many of the Midwest-natives on the Sunbird roster.

Most importantly though the team was looking to leave it all out on the court to support point guard Matt Samuels, whose brother passed away from cancer earlier this week. The team wore socks with Samuels' brother's initials, the coaching staffs for both teams wore sneakers and many players shaved their heads to dedicate the game to him.

"I love Matt Samuels," said head coach Chris Wright. "He's meant so much to our team and he played with a heavy heart all year and especially this weekend. He comes from a great family and they're extremely close. We just wanted to do anything we could do to help honor his brother in whatever small way we could."

Samuels turned in a huge performance, scoring 20 points and making numerous clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the win. John Taylor was in the zone all night, putting up a game-high 39 points to go with six assists and five steals for the Sunbirds. Malcolm Griffin battled foul trouble to add 19 points in 24 minutes as the Sunbirds fought off a furious second half run by the Cougars.

The Sunbirds jumped out to a 55-37 first-half lead before the Cougars cut it to 11 at halftime. FPU built up the lead despite being without Griffin for nearly the entire first half after he picked up three quick fouls. The game featured 56 fouls and 84 free-throws between the two teams.

APU began the second half on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 57-54 and the game quickly turned into a nailbiter. All in all it was a 17-2 APU run spanning the two halves. Fouls would dictate much of the game for both teams. Griffin, Antonio Credit and Trevon Clayton all found themselves with four fouls early in the second half. Clayton finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cougars would take the lead 71-70 on a jumper by Troy Leaf with 14:14 to play. Back to back baskets by Taylor broke a tie with 11 minutes to go to put FPU up 80-76 and the Sunbirds would lead the rest of the way.

Griffin, Taylor and Samuels would stay aggressive down the stretch to propel the Sunbirds after both Credit and Clayton fouled out. With Samuels consistently knocking down free-throws, FPU built up a 10-point lead 103-93 with 2:42 to play. The Cougars had one more run in them however, going on a 10-3 run. Taylor and Samuels knocked down free-throws however to ice the game.

Samuels, who finished 12-of-15 from the line, knocked down the final two free-throws that sealed the game.

"I just want to thank FPU as an entire university for just taking care of me," said Samuels. "Wearing the socks, having a moment of silence, my teammates shaving their heads....everybody just came around me which was huge. Coach gave me the option of going home but I told him hands down I know what my brother would want me to do and that's stay here and play ball. So I did that and I'll be with my family tomorrow."

The Sunbirds got a big boost off the bench to help alleviate the foul trouble as Anthony Brant hit a clutch jumper in the game's closing minutes and Zach Kaul knocked down two crucial three-pointers.

Leaf and Sharif Watson had 24 points apiece to lead the Cougars (13-14). Watson added 14 rebounds and Leaf had nine assists. 109 points was the most given up by an APU team in regulation since a 112-96 loss to Concordia back in 1996.

"Azusa's a heck of a team, they've got a lot of good young players and Coach Leslie and his staff do a tremendous job," said Wright. "They kept battling and it was a grinder all the way through, one where you never felt comfortable. They played their hearts out and they're going to be a team to be reckoned with in the next couple years."

FPU is now 20-7 overall, giving the program its eighth 20-win season. It is FPU's fourth 20-win season in the last four years, two coming with Wright as the head coach with the two others as an assistant.

The Sunbirds will likely be one of the top seeds in the eight-team NCCAA tournament which begins next Wednesday at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Brackets will be released soon and posted on fpuathletics.com.