By Eric Montgomery, NAIA Sports Information

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- (Box Scores) The Cumberlands (Ky.) defense carried it to a 55-47 victory against No. 9 LSU Alexandria (La.) at the 2015 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium. The Patriots turned a one-point halftime lead into the eight-point win thanks in large part to a gritty defensive effort – LSU Alexandria made just 25 percent (6-of-24) in the second half, 33 percent overall (15-of-46).

The Patriots move on to play the winner of the late game tonight between SAGU (Texas) and No. 8 Martin Methodist (Tenn.) scheduled for Friday at 4:30 p.m. CDT. The second round championship appearance will be the Cumberlands’ 11th overall and third since 2009.

“We did not anticipate playing against much zone but we were able to make some timely shots,” said Cumberlands Head Coach Donnie Butcher. “We really weren’t very good offensively, but we did get some short spurts but that was all.

“We have some tough kids. When you’re not very good offensively, and we know we’re not, you better hang your hat on defense and rebounding. You have to give credit to our kids for buying into that because without it, we wouldn’t have a chance.”

Cumberlands led by nine points twice in the first half with the last occurrence at 23-14 with eight minutes left. A 12-4 run nearly wiped that out as LSU Alexandria trailed 27-26 at the halftime break.

Scoring was at a premium in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Generals scored the first five points of the second frame taking a 31-27 edge. Cumberlands’ first point out of the locker room was a free throw by Matt Welch at the 13:52 mark.

LSU Alexandria stretched the lead to as high as five (38-33) with eight minutes remaining, before the Patriots took control.

A three-pointer by D’Lando Carter – one of his four on the night – started the comeback for Cumberlands. In a span of six minutes, the Patriots turned a five-point hole into a five-point lead at 47-42.

LSU Alexandria, appearing in its first-ever national championship, could get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Xavier Owens led all scorers with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Tony Bradley collected 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

For LSU Alexandria, DeAngelo Coleman went for 14 points, but shot just 5-of-17 (.294) from the floor. Austin Adams was the other General in double-figures with 10 points.

The Generals end the season with a 23-4 record.

Game Notes
Cumberlands – The 23 championship appearances is second most amongst this year’s qualifiers (Georgetown – 34)… Entered the contest ranked No. 1 in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.268) – tonight, they held LSU Alexandria to 23.5 percent (4-of-17)… With 14 points tonight, Tony Bradley has now reached double-figure scoring in 15-consecutive games… The 47 points allowed is the third-lowest amount this year… The 55 points scored is just above a season-low of 48 points scored in 48-47 victory against Dalton State (Ga.) on Dec. 20, 2014.
LSU Alexandria – Making their first appearance in the national championship… Scored a season low 47 points… Loss snaps LSU Alexandria’s eight-game winning streak… DeAngelo Coleman led LSU Alexandria’s offense with 14 points and had five rebounds.