KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Led by past by all-tournament performer Brice Prather, Azusa Pacific used an 11-2 run over the final 3 minutes of the game to rally from 13 down for a 61-56 victory over Louisiana State-Shreveport in the opening round of the 70th Annual NAIA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in Municipal Auditorium.

The victory propels Azusa Pacific in Friday's round of "Sweet 16" where the Cougars will meet Park University (Mo.) at 4:15 p.m. (PST). Park defeated Olivet Nazarene, 68-62, in its first-round game tonight.

Prather, who earned all-tourney accolades in 2005 while leading the Cougars to the NAIA title game, looked every bit his former self after enduring a sub-par 2007 campaign. He scored a team-high 14 points and it was his play down the stretch that brought Azusa Pacific out of peril.

The Cougars struggled with their play from the opening tip and failed to execute any semblance of its game-plan. Conversely, LSU-Shreveport was operating at near-perfection and in an unfamiliar territory. The generally high-flying, up-tempo Pilots, who came into the NAIA Tournament averaging 84 points a contest, brought their game to a grinding halt, exhausting much of the shot-clock and slowing the tempo of play. In addition, the significantly shorter Pilots worked the glass and picked up several easy baskets off put-backs.

As a result, they settled for 25-25 tie at halftime and then made 3 straight shots early in the second half to jettison out to a 31-25 advantage. They continued to frustrate the Cougars, who missed 18 of their first 33 shots, and with 13 minutes left in the game, LSUS was enjoying the comforts of a 43-30 lead.

"We played a very, very poor game," said Cougar coach Bill Odell. "(LSUS Coach) Chad (McDowell) did a great job preparing his guys for us. They did all the things you have to do against us."

And though their offensive flow sputtered, the Cougars never caved on defense, and eventually they began to chip away at the lead, getting it to single digits following a pair of Matt Oliver free throws with 10 minutes to play then to just 5 at 47-42 following a long Oliver trey.

"We changed our defense a bit and that really helped," said Odell. "Had I been smarter, I would have done it a littler earlier because it really made things easier for us."

With 2-and-a-half minutes to play, Azusa Pacific's leading scorer on the season, Scott Zea, made his first field goal of the game to get the Cougars to within 2, and when Demario Butler picked Pilot Jamon Morris at the top of the key on the ensuing possession, he found an open path to a game-tying lay-up with 2 minutes to play.

LSU-Shreveport answered with its only field goal in the final 6 minutes to assume a 56-54 lead with 1:50 left in the game. That's when Prather stepped into the spotlight. After Butler missed of 1-of-2 free throws to allow the Pilots to retain the lead, Prather came from across the key to block a Morris lay-up and prevent what would have been a sure LSUS go-ahead basket.

"I was helping out on defense and lost my man," said Prather. "When I saw he had the ball on the baseline I came across to stop him, and I got all ball."

Zea snared the loose ball and came down court, missing a potential go-ahead jumper, but Prather was there for the rare put-back to give Azusa Pacific its first lead of the second half at 57-56 with 37 seconds remaining.

Pilot point guard Freddy Hughes, who had given Azusa Pacific fits all night, forced Cougar Khalif Ford into his fifth foul, sending the 88-percent free throw shooter to the line with 25 seconds left. However, to usually sure Hughes missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Prather collected the rebound, in essence clinching the victory.

"If you would have told that we would be down 1 with 20 second left and Freddy Hughs, a career 92-percent free throw shooter at the line, I would have said we will win," said McDowell. "Unfortunately, even the great shooters miss once in a while."

Tristan King and Zea each converted a pair of free throws to clinch the victory.

"I love this time of the year," said Prather. "The pressure of going home if you lose seems to get me going."

Prather finished with just 3 rebounds, but 2 of them came in the final 40 seconds and were crucial to the Cougars' fortunes.

Azusa Pacific was held to a season-low 61 points and shot just 35-percent (19-for-54) from the floor. The Pilots, though, were just as cold, shooting at just a .333 (19-for-57) clip.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 28-6 and for the fourth straight year advances to the "Sweet 16". LSUS, which was paced by Morris' game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, ends its season at 25-8.

Friday's game vs. Park can be heard live via Internet radio on Azusa Pacific's student-run station KAPU or via the NAIA website.