FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno Pacific played neck-and-neck with nationally-ranked Azusa Pacific before a late run propelled the visiting Cougars to an 89-80 victory in PacWest action. The Sunbirds (5-3, 1-1 PacWest) led 44-41 at halftime and were up by as many as seven in the second half, but a 7-0 Cougar run in the final minutes would put it out of reach.

Five players scored in double figures for the Sunbirds, led by Gabe Solarin's 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Trevon Clayton and Bobby Barnes added 16 points apiece, Madison Higgins had 15 and Jeff Amazan finished with 14 points and six assists.

"I thought we came out and played really hard," said head coach Shane Rinner. "Our execution wasn't tremendous, but we shot the ball really well to keep us in the game. At the eight minute mark we were in the double bonus and started to settle for jump shots instead of running our offense. The game came down to Azusa executing a lot better in the final minutes."

Following a layup from Clayton that tied the game at 66 with 8:43 remaining, the Cougars received a dunk from Andy Jones, a three from Lydell Cardwell and a layup from Troy Leaf to put APU up for good. The Cougars earned their largest lead of the night of 11 points with 4:09 left.

FPU shot 53% from the field and 58% from long-range but couldn't slow down the Cougar offense.

Troy Leaf had a game-high 23 points for the Cougars (8-1, 1-0 PacWest). Robert Sandoval (Clovis East HS) dished out 11 assists. APU benefited from superior depth outscoring FPU 38-1 in bench points, and also out-rebounded FPU 33-27.

"Moving forward, the guys need to continue to practice hard and keep improving how we have to attack a game-plan. If we can play to our strengths, we will learn how to beat good basketball teams," said Rinner.

The Sunbirds travel to St. George, Utah to face Dixie State next Saturday, Dec. 13.