Columbia (Mo.) Moves into the Semifinals with Win Over Westminster, 50-47
Mar 21, 2009
March 21, 2009
Kansas City, Mo. - Columbia (Mo.) became the third team to reach the Fab Four of the 2009 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship after a 50-47 victory Saturday over Westminster (Utah) at Municipal Auditorium.
Columbia, which hadn't won an NAIA Tournament game since 2001, improves to 29-7 overall and will make its first national semifinal appearance on Monday. The Cougars will take on the winner of McKendree (Ill.) and MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) with tipoff scheduled for 8:50 p.m. CDT.
Jason Ellis scored 15 of his team-leading 17 points in the second half to pace Columbia. Ellis also led the Cougars in rebounding with four.
Columbia, which held a 22-21 halftime lead, began the second half on a 17-5 run to increase their lead to 39-26. Westminster then went on a 16-0 run to take a 42-39 lead. The teams battled down to the wire. After Jason Ellis hit one of two free throws to make it 50-47, Westminster had one last shot with seven seconds to go but was unable to connect.
Westminster's Danny Stosich led all scorers with 18. Phil Friesen connected for 10 points while Ben Smith registered nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. The Griffins end their season with an overall record of 30-5.
- NAIA -
GAME NOTES -
The game's first points were scored at the 18:00 minute mark with a free throw by Westminster's Geoff Payne...no team led by more than five points in the first half. Overall there were seven lead changes and four ties in the first 20 minutes...for Westminster, Geoff Payne (8) and Danny Stosich (11) had 19 of the team's 21 first-half points...Westminster went on a 18-0 run over a nine-minute span in the second half to take a 44-39 lead. In the 10 minutes prior to that run, the Griffins scored just five points...the combined point total (97) was the lowest amount in a Championship game since the 1999 event when Biola (Calif.) and Lipscomb (Tenn.) scored 97 in a 51-46 win for Biola...the 50 points scored by Columbia is the lowest amount for a winning team in a Championship game since Oklahoma Baptist won a 39-36 affair over Biola in the 1997 Championship...Columbia is in its 14th Tournament.
