TULSA, OKLA.- The pressure was on and Azusa Pacific was keenly aware of it. Their 3 GSAC partners who made the trip with them to Tulsa and the NAIA Championship Tournament had each won their second-round games earlier in the day. Now it was up the conference champion Cougars to make it 4 GSAC teams in the final 8. They met the challenge.
Azusa Pacific defeated Findlay University (Ohio), 87-68, Thursday night in the second round of the 62nd NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship in Tulsa, Okla. As a result of Azusa Pacific's victory, the GSAC becomes the first conference in NAIA history to put 4 members into the "Elite Eight."
"It gives us a lot of pride, and I feel that we have really stepped it up as a conference," said Azusa Pacific head coach Bill Odell, who improves to 7-5 in the 6 NAIA tournaments. "I thought we looked a whole lot better tonight than against Edward Waters."
The Cougars went on a 19-6 run that included 11 straight points to assume 34-19 lead with 4:27 left in the half. It was the defense that spurred the Cougar run, forcing Findlay into 3-for-10 shooting, 3 turnovers and not allowing the Oilers a second shot on any of their offensive trips. Senior All-American T.J. Walker had three driving layups go uncontested, and the Oilers had no answer. Meanwhile junior center Justin Leslie was getting involved down low, scoring 9 first half points. The end result was a hefty 19-point halftime lead, 45-26.
The Oilers wouldn't go away, keeping themselves in the game with the 3-point shooting of Marc Bishop. The senior guard took 13 attempts, and hit 2 early in the second half that cut the Cougars lead to 8. That is when Odell made a defensive-minded decision. He took out Jerome Joseph and inserted Corey Smith , who forced Bishop into 3 bad trey attempts. From there Oilers couldn't get much going to whittle the Cougar lead.
Meanwhile, Jason Boswell was driving to the hoop and pulling up, also grabbing a pair of key rebounds. Findlay tried to neutralize Kevin Daley, doubling down on him in the post, but they didn't have anyone to stop Walker. The national player of the year candidate had his way with the Oilers frontcourt, and scored a game-high 22 points, 14 coming in the second half.
"I just played my game tonight," said Walker, who also grabbed 8 rebounds. "We knew they were a good team but we wanted to come out and run the tempo ourselves."
Azusa Pacific pushed the lead back out to 15 and thanks to an outstanding night from the line (30-of-37), took the 19-point win.
"I felt pressure to move on from the other GSAC teams," said Leslie, who finished with 18 points. "We're the team to beat in the GSAC and we can't let them have one up on us. I'm cheering for them to move. I think its great that West Coast basketball is making a statement here."
Boswell had 14 points. Joseph added 11 and Daley grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. The Cougars turned the ball over only 7 times and were 30-of-37 from the free throw line.
"It wasn't a complete game for us, and we didn't shoot well," said Odell. "But compared to last night, it was a good game."
With the win the Cougars improve to 28-5 and advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight year where they meet No. 2-seeded Union University (34-2) of Jackson, Tenn., at 4 p.m. (PST). Findlay ends its season at 21-9.
