IRVINE, Calif. – Nothing is given. Everything is earned.

And make no mistake, the Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team earned its first victory of the season on Saturday.

The Eagles received fantastic performances from multiple upperclassmen and broke in to the win column by turning away Azusa Pacific, 74-63.

Kayle Knuckles had arguably the best game of his CUI career with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go with a game-high seven assists. 

Senior Darius Lee added 11 points while Dominic Hovasse finished with 13 points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds to notch his first double-double of the year. Hovasse also handed out a season-high five assists and finished with three made three-pointers and two steals.

"We played as hard as you can play," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "All credit to (the players) for hanging tough and not giving up when we went through such a demoralizing stretch. They showed extreme toughness today and that was a beautiful team effort. They deserved it and I'm glad that they got rewarded today."

CUI made four of its first five shots from the field and opened up a 16-3 advantage over APU after back-to-back treys by Dominic Hovasse.  Mac Stodart started the flurry with two quick baskets followed by threes from Lee and Knuckles.

"We know what we're capable of," explained Knuckles.  "It felt good to let loose and have fun and get the win. We all felt comfortable it was all about going out and playing hard. That's what we talked about."

Another key statistic that went in Concordia's favor was the rebounding battle. The Eagles outrebounded the visiting Cougars 36-30.

In addition to Hovasse's big day on the glass and Knuckles helping out in the paint, Dayshone Henry also collected six boards and Drew Ammann and Lee picked up four rebounds apiece.

"We're trying to finish out the season strong and we have a lot of guys back next year," added Knuckles. "So finishing strong and building that base is huge for us."

The Eagles will return to action this coming Friday, Feb. 26 at Biola.  CUI will then host the Red and Black on Saturday, Feb 27 on Senior Day.

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