KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Azusa Pacific used a 17-3 run midway through the first half to take control of the game and then held on to upset No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Mountain State University, 82-66, in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament.
Sophomore Spencer Foster scored 15 points, all in the first half, and 11 of them came during the surge that allowed Azusa Pacific to take a surprising 33-22 lead. Foster came off the bench and made 4-of-5 shots, including a trio of 3-pointers to send a shock into Mountain State, a team that had won 83 of its past 88 games.
From then on Azusa Pacific was in control, never relinquishing the lead, taking a 40-36 halftime advantage and pushing it to a 7-point cushion which the Cougars maintained throughout most of the second half before settling for the 16-point victory.
“What got us through last night’s game -- the gutting it out, the heart, the intensity – paid off tonight,” said Cougar coach Bill Odell. “We learned last night how to do that, and tonight we were able to do it again. We had to because Mountain State is such a good team.
As he was last night, senior guard Larry English spearheaded the Cougar attack, pouring in a game-high 27 points, including 18 in the second half. He drained 6-of-11 3-pointers, including 2 in the second half that each time thwarted an MSU run and pushed the Cougar lead back to double-digits.
“This was a team we wanted to play at the national tournament,” said English, who also had 2 assists and 5 rebounds. “They’ve beaten us twice at home the past 2 years, but the national tournament is whole different setting. We wanted to end their reign here.”
As good as Azusa Pacific was in its perimeter shooting, it was even better on defense. The Cougars held MSU 20 points under its season average and out-rebounded the West Virginia team 59-47, despite a significant height disadvantage along the front.
“We can’t beat Mountain State straight up,” said Odell, “they’re too good, too quick too strong. I mean we had 5-foot-11 Josh Dillon on 6-foot-5 (Dajuan) Tate. But he did what we asked of him, and we played defense as a team. We clogged the middle and forced them to change the direction they wanted to go with their offense.”
Lance Soderberg added 16 points and none were bigger than 3 that came off a trey from the top of the key after Mountain State had rallied to within a point with under 2 minutes left in the first half. Brice Prather tallied 7 points and collected a game-high 13 rebounds.
Azusa Pacific also thwarted MSU’s vaunted shooting, holding a near 50% shooting team to just 34% (26-for-76).
“We did a good job on stopping their transition and the easy points they get there,” said Odell, “and then we got hand in their face and tried to contest nearly every shot.”
Mountain State was paced by Tate’s 17 points, but leading scorer Nate Daniels was held to just 5, some 14 points below his average.
Mountain State has its season come to an end at 31-4.
“Azusa Pacific played extremely well,” said MSU coach Bob Bolen. “We have played with zip every game out here, but when we needed it most this time, we didn’t have it.”
Surprisingly, it was Azusa Pacific that had the boundless energy despite having played a 3-overtime game just 21 hours ago.
“I was fearful about our energy level coming into the game,” said Odell. “We got nutrients into them last night. They had ice baths. They got rest. But as they say, I think it came down to mind over matter.”
The victory, which is Azusa Pacific’s third over a No. 1-ranked team in the past 2 seasons, puts the Cougars into the NAIA Fab Four for the fourth time in the past 8 years. Now 28-9 on the season, Azusa Pacific will take on Robert Morris College (Ill.) at 6 p.m. (PST) in one of Monday’s (March 21) semifinals. The other pits John Brown University (Ark.) against Carroll College (Mont.) at 4 p.m. (PST).
