March 18, 2009

Kansas City, Mo. - Sylvester Collins' tip-in off of a Walter Howard miss with no time remaining lifted Tougaloo College (Miss.) to a 69-67 victory over ninth-seeded Fresno Pacific University (Calif.) in the seventh game of the 2009 Buffalo Funds NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at Municipal Auditorium Wednesday evening.

Fresno Pacific took a 5-3 lead in the opening minutes of the first half and built as much as a nine-point cushion in the first 20 minutes before settling for a 42-38 lead at the break. Both teams shot well from the floor in the opening half with the Sunbirds connecting on 50 percent of their shots while Tougaloo made 46.7 percent from the floor.

The second half  was close throughout with neither team holding more than a six-point advantage. The game was tied on five different occasions in the half. Fresno Pacific's biggest lead of the half was a six-point cushion at 47-41 with 15:44 remaining. Tougaloo's largest lead was four points at 60-56 with 8:37 left in regulation.

Fresno Pacific took a 67-65 lead on two free throws from Todd Brown with 2:12 left in the game. The Bulldogs answered with a bucket by Walter Howard with a minute left to knot the game at 67. The Sunbirds had a chance to take the lead with 25 seconds left, but Kevin McCaughey was called for a player control foul, setting up Collins' heroics.

Jeremy Cable led Tougaloo with 20 points and eight rebounds. Howard added 15 markers and Collins netted 13 points and seven rebounds. Keith Fisher led all players with eight assists. For Fresno Pacific, James Lewis led three players in double figures with 21 points. Todd Brown added 19 points.

Tougaloo improves to 22-10 and advances to Friday's second round where it will play eighth-seeded Robert Morris (Ill.) College at 9 a.m. CDT. Fresno Pacific completes its season with a 26-8 overall mark.

GAME NOTES

Both Fresno Pacific and Tougaloo were making their second appearance in the tournament, with Fresno Pacific's last coming in 1995, and Tougaloo being among the 2007 field ... Tougaloo won their first ever tournament game, while Fresno Pacific fell to 1-2 in tournament play ... Fresno Pacific came into the game ranked second in the NAIA in three-pointers made, but Tougaloo made two more three-pointers in the contest (10-8) ... Tougaloo's Jeremy Cable had his ninth 20+ scoring game of the season, while Fresno Pacific's James Lewis had his 19th ... this was the second straight year that the No. 9 seed was upset in the first round ... with Fresno Pacific's loss, four seeded teams have been defeated in first-round play (No. 1 Rogers State (Okla.), No. 4 Georgetown (Ky.) and No. 13 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.).