Yet senior guard Larry English said, "I wasn't going out like this," and the smallest man on the court rose above the crowd to produce one for the ages of Cougar basketball.

Azusa Pacific, down 16 points with just under 12 minutes left, staged an offensive flurry to the end of regulation, survived 3 failed last-second game-winning shots, and then scored 8 straight points in 44 seconds to steal a thrilling 100-93 triple-overtime victory over Oklahoma Christian in the second round of the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in Municipal Auditorium.

"That's a 'team win' as much as one could possibly be," said Azusa Pacific coach Bill Odell, who has now guided the Cougars into the "Elite Eight" for fifth time in the past 8 years.

English, who is just 5-foot-9, scored 24 of his team-high 30 points in the final 17 minutes of play to lead Azusa Pacific to a most improbable victory. With just 2 minutes left in regulation, English had a mere 6 points on 3-for-8 shooting, but he scored 4 in the final 1:41 of regulation, including 2 on a game-tying lay-up with 11 seconds left, and then added 20 more points in overtime.

"He kind of took over the game, didn't he," Odell said with a smile. "He didn't try to do too much, but rather executed our offense and played with confidence."

English scored 7 of the Cougars' 9 points in the first overtime, 5 of their 7 in the second overtime and 8 of the final 17 of the game.

"It's the national tournament," said English who 3 years ago as a freshman helped lead Barat College to the NAIA semifinals before transferring to Azusa Pacific. "I definitely did not want to lose to a good team in a bunch of overtimes. The guys dug in and we came up with a good win."

And while it was English who eventually led the Cougars to the promised land – Saturday's quarterfinal match-up vs. defending national champ Mountain State – it was a host of other Cougars who brought the team through the desert vs. Oklahoma Christian.

Trailing 50-34 with 11:30 left in regulation and struggling to find any sort of offensive rhythm, Azusa Pacific appeared to be dead in the water. Oklahoma Christian opened the second half with a 16-4 run to turn a 4-point halftime advantage into a monstrous 16-point cushion. The Eagles made 7 of their first 11 shots to start the half while Azusa Pacific missed 11-of -13.

"I called a timeout and saw the guys walking over with their heads down," said Odell, "so I had to challenge them a bit. They responded."

That's putting it mildly. The Cougars scored 66 points in next 27 minutes which included a 33-17 run in the final 11:17 of regulation just to force overtime. Sophomore Spencer Foster took advantage of a foul-plagued Jarred Merrill, who picked up his fourth with 7:42 left in the regulation, by sandwiching 6 points, all off lay-ups, around an Adam Greenaway trey in a 90-second span to get Azusa Pacific some momentum. Mike Hornbuckle and Josh Dillon then hit back-to-back 3-pointers and when Foster converted a short jumper in the paint, the Cougars were back within 1 at 64-63 with 54 seconds left.

Tentative on defense but a still a mighty force on offense, Merrill converted a conventional 3-point play at the other end to give the Eagles what seemed to be an insurmountable 4-point cushion with 35 seconds remaining. However, Lance Soderberg hit a turnaround baseline jumper and then stole the ball from Merrill on the inbounds play. After a Cougar timeout, English drove the gut and converted a left-handed lay-up to pull the Cougars even at 67-67 with 11 seconds left. Without calling a timeout, Oklahoma Christian came back down court for a potential game-winning shot but Keith Harris' jumper fell short at the buzzer and the teams were off to overtime.

Off the overtime tip-off, English hit a trey from the top of the arc to give Azusa Pacific a 70-67 lead, its first advantage since the 9-minute mark of the first half. Yet, Merrill led the Eagles back in front, and English had to make 2 free throws to knot the game at 74 with 1:31 remaining. The rookie Greenaway then intercepted a Merrill pass and off the ensuing play banged home a long jumper from just inside the arc to put Azusa Pacific back up 76-74 with 47 seconds left.

"Adam is supposed to shoot that ball," said Odell. "That play is designed for our guy to come off a screen and if they don't 'show' on defense, which OCU didn't, then he's supposed take the shot. That's a pretty big basket for a freshman."

A pair of Charles Baldwin free throws tied the game at 76 with 39 seconds left, setting up Azusa Pacific's first attempt at a game-wining play. After running the clock down, English launched a 3-pointer from the top that, as he later said, "I thought it was in," but rather rattled in and out. Brice Prather snagged the rebound but his put-back tantalizingly sat on the rim and then fell off as the horn sounded, indicating a second OT.

The Cougars trailed throughout most of the next frame until English drained a long trey from the top to give Azusa Pacific an 83-81 lead with 49 seconds left. Merrill, however, answered with 2 free throws with 37 seconds left to tie the game for the sixth time and set up another Azusa Pacific attempt at a game-winning shot. Again, English let the clock wind down to under 10 seconds before he went to work. This time, however, his entry bounce pass into Soderberg was intercepted by OCU guard Brady Page, who dribbled the length of the court only to miss a running 12-foot jump off the side of the rim as the horn sounded again, requiring yet a third overtime period.

Two minutes into the third and decisive overtime, Merrill gave OCU an 88-85 advantage with a conventional 3-point play. Foster, though, ignited a game-clinching 10-2 Azusa Pacific run with a 3-ball to knot the score at 88. Moments later, when he could find no one to give the ball to, Foster finally let loose with a 19-foot jumper that found nothing but net to jettison Azusa Pacific into a 92-90 lead with 54 seconds left. Page's 8-foot answering jumper in the key fell short for OCU, and the Cougars grabbed the rebound and with it the victory too. English and Greenaway combined to convert 8 straight free throws in the final 27 seconds for the final margin of victory.

The desperation feeling of the 16-point hole was now a distant memory, lost in a flood of an amazing rally to victory.

"You can't make a great comeback if you give up," said Foster, who finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds. "This was a team effort."

In all, the game featured 9 ties and 11 lead changes, 10 of which came after regulation play.

"I'd like to say that we played well, but we didn't," said Odell. "However, I'm very proud of the effort. It was the scrap plays that got us back into this game, and it was the execution of our offense that led us through overtime."

Prather finished with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, while Greenaway added 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals in 30 minutes of play, by far his longest term of action in any game this year.

Merrill, the Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a sure All-American when the NAIA announces the team come Tuesday night, finished with a tournament-high 41 points and 15 rebounds. He was 18-for-21 at the line, which included a 14-for-17 clip after halftime.

"This is pretty special," said Odell. "It reminds me our play in '98 and '99 tournaments when we battled against Incarnate Word and Union, teams that were better than us, and yet we found a way to win."

The game is the second longest in Azusa Pacific history (the Cougars played a quadruple OT game vs. Warner Pacific in 1982) and the third longest in NAIA Tournament history.

Oklahoma Christian has its season come to an end at 27-7. Azusa Pacific improves to 27-9 and will take on Mountain State (31-3) in a quarterfinal game Saturday (March 19) at 4 p.m. (CST).