KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Chris Bolden's 2 free throws with 20 seconds left capped an improbable rally to lift the University of Mobile to a 76-75 upset of No. 2 seeded Azusa Pacific in the second round of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in Municipal Auditorium.
Mobile, which trailed 36-19 with 5:36 left in the first half and was still down by 10 at 46-36 at halftime, used a 12-3 run midway through the second half to take its first lead since the early moments of the game at 64-62 following a Tramaine Perry jumper with 6:30 left to play. In that fateful 4-minute stretch that allowed Mobile to get back into the game and take the lead, the Cougars committed 5 turnovers.
"We didn't do a good job of handling the ball," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "They made it a little more physical than we like to play, and we didn't handle it well."
From there the 2 teams battled for the lead with Azusa Pacific getting its last cushion at 75-74 following a Ryan Dillon trey with 50.1 seconds left in the game.
On the ensuing play, Bolden was fouled by Spencer Foster on a baseline jumper. A 70-percent free throw shooter on the season, Bolden was a perfect 5-for-5 at the line tonight, which included the game winner. In fact, as a team Mobile converts 62-percent of its free throws, but the Rams were near perfect tonight, converting 13-of-14 attempts.
The Cougars final attempt to win the game came on Dillon's 3-point shot from the top of the key with 3 seconds left, but it was just short and the ball fell away as too did Azusa Pacific's aspirations to move into the Elite Eight for the fifth time in the past 7 years.
"I wanted Spencer to take the shot but he didn't think he had it," said Odell. "Mobile did a good job defending us at the end."
Behind the play of point guard Larry English the Cougars went on an early 12-2 run to assume a 17-8 lead less than 6 minutes into the game. Azusa Pacific kept the offensive flow going, and following a Dillon trey, stretched the lead to 17. English and Brett Michel combined for 26 first-half points but just 5 in the second half. In fact, English didn't score in the second half and sat out the final 8 minutes with a severe leg cramp.
"He had 14 points in 29 minutes," said Odell, "and he certainly would have played at least 6 of the final minutes. He was getting shots and running the offense well. Kasey (Meyers) did a good job in his place but was a little over-matched against Feagin."
Mobile was paced by Perry's game-high 20 points. Gabriel Feagin added 17 and a game-high 7 assists.
"I just hoped that we would wear on them," said Mobile coach Joe Niland. "English going down with a cramp was a bit indicative of that, and that ended up being a huge factor. He's an excellent player, and we took a little bit out of him."
Michel finished with a team-high 17 points in his 145th and final game as a Cougar. English had 14, all in the first half and 12 from beyond the 3-point arc. Lance Soderberg tallied 15 points. The loss snaps Azusa Pacific's 19-game winning streak.
"It was a dream season," said Odell. "There probably wasn't a spot on the court tonight where Mobile wasn't more athletic than us, and that's kind of the way it's been all year. But these guys did it with smarts, team work and everything a coach could dream of."
Azusa Pacific closes out the campaign with a 32-5 record. Mobile moves into the quarterfinal for the second time in program history with a 28-9 mark.
