IRVINE, CA --- For the first three minutes of the game, it looked like the NAIA's No. 2-ranked Concordia was back to its winning ways, but Azusa Pacific quickly turned the tables and led the rest of the way to upset the Eagles by an 80-67 score Saturday night at CU Arena.

Concordia trailed by as much as 22 points late in the second half, and falls to 19-2, including 9-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play, while Azusa Pacific avenges a home loss to CUI earlier in the month and improves to 15-6, 8-3 GSAC.

Playing without junior center Ben Smith, who sat out with an injury, the Eagles were out-shot 60 percent (27-for-45) to 34 percent (18-for-53), and out-rebounded by a 41-23 margin.

Junior guard Justin Johnson scored a team-high 22 points and hauled down seven rebounds, while junior forward Brandon Hucks tallied 14 points in his first start of the season.

APU was led by 23 points from All-GSAC and NAIA All-American third-team selection Dominique Johnson, who went 13-for-14 from the charity stripe. Caleb Burgess and Mike Danielian scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, in the win.

Justin Johnson hit a trey to open up the scoring in the first half, and sophomore forward Cameron Gliddon followed suit with a triple before Hucks hit a layup to start the game at 8-0 in favor of Concordia.

Azusa Pacific was quick to strike back, answering with 12 points in a row that included eight points from Dominique Johnson, making it a 12-8 Cougar lead seven minutes into the game.

APU gained its biggest lead at 76-54, when Marshall Johnson grabbed a steal and took it coast-to-coast before finishing on a dunk that gave the Cougars their only 22-point lead of the evening.

The Eagles were out-scored by a 34-18 margin in the pain, and 27-14 from the bench.

The loss snaps a three-game regular-season winning streak against the Cougars, and is Concordia's first home loss of the year and just the fourth in the Eagles' last 57 home games.

Concordia next takes on Hope International this Tuesday night (Feb. 2), starting at 7:30 p.m. in Fullerton.

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