The victory puts Azusa Pacific into Tuesday's final where for the third straight year the Cougars will meet Concordia, an 86-75 double-overtime victor over Cal Baptist in tonight's other semi.

Statistically, the numbers posted by Pratt, Dillon and Greenaway weren't necessarily eye-popping, even in a combined manner – 24 points, 15 rebounds and 1 assists – but the trio consistently came up large at key moments in the game. They propelled the Cougars to a 10-point halftime lead,, and then made clutch plays in the second-half, allowing the Cougars to come back from 5 down over the final 10 minutes of the game.

"They all played big tonight," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "Josh was our leading rebounder, Nate made big shots, and Adam gave us a great pick-up off the bench. They gave us energy, and we got the lead back with them in the game."

Running its offensive scheme through the burley All-GSAC center Lavar Simmons, The Master's erased a 12-point deficit early in the second half with a 20-5 run in which Simmons scored 7 of his 15 points to give the Mustangs a 53-48 lead with 10:39 left in the game.

"Master's is so physical," said Odell. "You can back away from it if you don't have the gumption and think they can hurt you. But our guys battled at every position and are really tired right now."

Pratt and Greenaway, who came into the game averaging a combined 9.7 points a game, nailed 3-pointers on successive possessions, and when Greenaway put back a missed breakaway lay-up, the Cougars regained the lead at 56-55. In fact, the duo combined for 11 points during a 13-2 Cougar run that resulted in an Azusa Pacific 61-55 cushion with just over 6 minutes left in the game.

Though Azusa Pacific adjusted and found ways to slow down Simmons, the Mustangs refused to fold and behind Jason Perry's 15 points, 13 of which came in the second half, The Master's took one final lead at 62-61 at the 5:42 mark. Dillon then gave Azusa Pacific the lead for good when a converted a lay-up off a bulls-eye pass from Mike Hornbuckle to put the Cougars up 66-64 with 3 minutes left.

The Master's had a chance to tie the game with just over a minute to play but Pratt induced Caleb Adcock into a charge as he backed in for position on the block, giving the ball over to the Cougars. After a Larry English free throw put the Cougars up 3 at 69-66, Simmons made a lay-up, his first bucket in over 10 minutes, to pull the Mustangs back to within a point. Hornbuckle, however, made 2 free throws with 12 seconds left, and Ryan Reed's attempt at tying the game on a 3-pointer went long as the final horn sounded.

The physical play wreaked havoc on The Master's line-up in which Mustang coach Bill Oates had to maneuver around a minefield of 4 players with 4 fouls, including Simmons. He eventually lost Perry to fouls with 4:12 left to play.

"I'm exhausted right now," said Cougar center Brice Prather, who finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out in 17 minutes of action. "Lavar doesn't stop in there for one single play, and if you don't come right back at him with the same intensity then you're beaten. Later in the game, we did a better job of denying him the ball. We started cutting off his life support, access to the passing lane."

Azusa Pacific, which loss by 28 points to this same group of Mustangs back in January, was sharp from the opening tip of the game, running its offense with a precision that allowed the Cougars to move out to a 15-5 lead after a Prather lay-up less than 6 minutes into the game. The Master's cut the margin to 3 at one point before the freshman guards of Hornbuckle and Greenaway combined for 7 points to push the Cougar cushion back to double digits. Azusa Pacific settled for a 39-29 lead at intermission.

English had a hand in 17 of the Cougars' 39 first-half points, scoring 7 points to go along with 5 assists. Dillon, who was shorter than every player in the game with the exception of English, nonetheless played amongst the trees, grabbing 6 of his career-high 8 rebounds in the first half.

Hornbuckle lead Azusa Pacific with 15 points, while Pratt added 11. Greenaway finished with 9 points, his best showing against a GSAC team this year.

"I've been a scorer in high school, and scoring in my mentality," said Greenaway, who has come on quite nicely in the past 2 weeks. "I'm just getting more confident of doing it in games."

Azusa Pacific, which improves to 25-8 overall, takes Sunday off and then gets one day to prepare for Concordia and the conference championship game, Tuesday (March 8) at 7:30 p.m. in Hope International's Darling Pavilion. It's the third straight year to 2 NAIA powers meet for the tournament title. In 2003, Concordia edged the Cougars 69-67 on a jumper in the final 10 seconds. Last year at Hope, the Cougars pounded Concordia, 66-41.

"It was nice to see all the Concordia fans stay for our game tonight and cheer for The Master's," said Odell with a smile. "I guess we know who they didn't want to play."