The victory propels the Cougars back into the “Elite Eight” for the third straight year and the fifth time in the past 7 years. Azusa Pacific will meet No. 2 Oklahoma City in a quarterfinal match-up Saturday (March 17) at 4 p.m. (PST). Oklahoma City defeated Illinois-Springfield, 90-78, in its second-round game earlier today.

Azusa Pacific led wire-to-wire against Park, but this was hardly a stroll in the park for the Cougars. They enjoyed big leads early on, but in the end they had to fend off a dramatic comeback, relying on Ford to keep the season alive.

Behind some nifty passing and deft shooting at the offensive end and a dominating effort on the boards, the Cougars built a substantial 19-point advantage at 38-19 following a Brice Prather lay-up at the 6:35 mark of the first half.

Yet, behind the prolific shooting of All-America candidates Brandon Voorhees and Kevin Nelson, Park rallied back into the game and with 3 minutes left, Voorhees converted a breakaway lay-up to pull the Pirates to within 5 at 86-81.

Enter Ford, center stage, who just 5 minutes earlier committed back-to-back turnovers that significantly aided in a 12-4 Pirate run. This time, however, under the pressure of an expiring shot clock, Ford nailed a long trey from the top of the key to give Azusa Pacific some much-needed breathing room at 89-81 while adding to the mounting frustration of a Pirate squad desperately trying to steal a victory.

In response, Voorhees and Nelson fashioned Park’s final attack, scoring the next 7 points and pulling the Pirates to within 1 at 89-88 following a Voorhees jumper with 41 seconds left. However, on the ensuring possession Nelson committed a critical foul, one that not only sent Ford to the line for 2 free throws but it also disqualified him from the game with his fifth foul, a move that would prove to be significant on the final possession. Ford sank both free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give Azusa Pacific the 3-point advantage, and Park one last chance at forcing overtime.

Without Nelson, a 40-percent shooter from the arc, on the floor for the final shot, Park had no other option than Voorhees, and the Cougars doubled on him, forcing him into a wild and errant long shot as the horn sounded.

“I had to challenge Khalif during a timeout after those turnovers,” said Cougar coach Bill Odell. “I stayed with him because he was the best at handling Park’s trapping. And he responded. That was a big three he made, and of course making those free throws was huge.”

It was clear in the opening minute that this would be a different Azusa Pacific team than the one which gave a rather lackluster effort in a come-from-behind opening round 61-56 victory over LSU-Shreveport Wednesday afternoon. In that game, it took Cougars’ leading scorers Demario Butler and Scott Zea 34 minutes before either of them scored a point. Tonight, the pair scored in the first 45 seconds of the game, and when Prather dropped in a lay-up, Azusa Pacific found itself with a quick 6-0 lead a minute into the game.

“It was a little different than the other night,” said a smiling Odell when comparing his team’s energy between the 2 NAIA Tournament games. “Getting off to a good start was important for us. We were making our shots, and it seemed like were getting all the 50-50 balls and converting on them.”

The Cougars made 7 of their first 10 shots to take control of the game, and then relied on a balanced offensive attack and a team-wide defensive approach to offset Park’s 2-man attack in Voorhees and Nelson, who combined for 56 of the Pirates’ 88 points. Five different Cougars scored in double figures, paced by Prather’s team-high 19 points and Zea’s sixth double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Butler, a guard, tallied 15 points, most of them in the paint.

“We wanted to go inside as often as we could and make Voorhees work at both ends of the court,” said Odell about Azusa Pacific’s strategy to wear down the 6-foot-7 senior transfer from Central Michigan.”

The Golden State Athletic Conference’s top rebounding squad, Azusa Pacific out-rebounded Park by a hefty 18 caroms, 48-30, an accomplishment that translated into 23 second-chance points for the Cougars, as compared to just 9 for Park, which was bolstered in its effort by a large partisan crowd from nearby Parkville, Mo.

“We knew our back was against the wall because the large crowd was against us,” said Butler. “Plus we had something to prove, that we weren’t as bad as we showed in the first game. I thought I had something to prove, that I really was the Demario Butler that everyone had heard about.”

In the first half alone, the Cougars nearly out-rebounded Park by a 2-to-1 margin (27 to 14), and the Cougar bench out-scored Park’s reserves, 26-0. Sophomore guardPeter Bond, who has played just 13 minutes over the past month, came off the bench to nail 3 consecutive treys for a surprising 9 points in 11 minutes from a player who came into the game averaging less than 3 a game. Meanwhile super-sub Mike Danielian scored all 13 of his points in the first half.

“Our bench was super,” said Odell. “Peter and Mike making open looks seemed to motivate the starters even more. It was like they were very appreciative of their effort and said ‘okay, let’s keep it going.’”

Though Azusa Pacific led by 9, 49-40, at halftime, the Cougars managed several double-digit leads throughout the first and second halves, and was still up by 10 at 68-58 with 10 minutes to play.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be a blowout game,” said Odell. “It was just a matter of everyone settling in. For Park, once they realized that we knew everything they were going to do, they began to counter. It just took some time to adjust, but they did adjust.”

Voorhees scored 22 of his game-high 33 points in the final 21 minutes and teamed with Nelson’s 24 to rally Park back into a single-possession game with a chance to force overtime on the final shot of the game. However, as had been the case all night, Voorhees had a Cougar in his face on a 3-pointer that was well off-line as the horn sounded.

“Voorhees and Nelson are very, very good, but they had to work for their points tonight,” said Odell. “Voorhees missed some key free throws, and I think it was because he was tired.”

The victory, which pushes Azusa Pacific’s record to 29-6 on the season, also makes Odell the NAIA Tournament’s winningest active coach with 22 tourney victories, passing Georgetown’s Happy Osborne, who has 21.

“The ability to come with another energetic effort like this tomorrow night is in every man,” said Odell, “because according to what everyone else says, we’re playing the most talented team in the nation tomorrow night â€" Oklahoma City.”

Saturday’s game vs. Oklahoma City can be heard live via Internet radio on Azusa Pacific's student-run station KAPU or can be viewed live via videostreaming on the NAIA website.