Story by NAIA Office

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box score) No. 6 seed Campbellsville (Ky.) became the second team from the Mid-South Conference to qualify for the semifinal round of the 2016 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship after claiming a 83-67 victory over No. 5-seed Carroll (Mont.).

Campbellsville (25-10) returns to the Fab Four for the first time since 2008 to take on No. 4-seeded Mid-America Christian (Okla.) on Monday, March 20 at 6:00 p.m. CDT.

Hagen Tyler led five players in double figures for Campbellsville with 21 points, hitting 5 of 8 from three-point range and 7 of 11 overall from the field. Dii’jon Allen-Jordan and Sekou Harris each had 16 points with Allen-Jordan grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Ron Scott provided 13 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Rob Robinson hit a trio of three-point shots and recorded 11 points along with six rebounds.

"We have picked the right time to play well," said Campbellsville head coach Keith Adkins. "We always thought that if we could just get here, then we had a chance to win at least one game... Maybe win two games. But to win three games was a little bit of a stretch. We aren't a physical team like our conference opponents. The ones who can score out here at the national tournament are the ones who are most successful."

Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, combining to hit 10 of 21 three-point shots, but Campbellsville committed just two turnovers while forcing nine that led to 11 points off of takeaways. Those 11 points proved to be the halftime margin for the Tigers, who used a 23-5 run midway through the opening frame to take control of the game.

“We talked about sticking together at the halftime. The game was tied and we knew this wasn’t going to be easy,” said Georgetown head coach Chris Briggs. “We just wanted to keep working, take advantage of what they gave us and get going. That’s some of the best basketball we played this year.”

The shooting percentages dipped a bit in the second half for both teams, but the lead only continued to grow for Campbellsville. The Tigers scored 10-straight points to start the second stanza for a 21-point advantage and led by as much as 28 points on the way to the victory.

“We really struggled to get stops,” said Carroll head coach Carson Cunningham. “I wish I would have developed a plan that worked better for us. We tried a lot of different things and it certainly wasn’t from a lack of desire. We expended so much energy the last two nights, as did they, but I don’t think we had the same pep. We just couldn’t keep them out of the lane.”

Match Burnham paced the Carroll offense with 21 points and hit six three-point shots to couple with five rebounds and three blocked shots. Ryan Imhoff tallied 15 points and seven rebounds, while Zach Taylor added 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Carroll finishes its season with a 23-10 record.

Game Notes
Carroll: Making its third appearance in championship quarterfinals…Lost to Texas Wesleyan, 73-40, in 2006 in their last quarterfinal game… Averaging 82.5 points per game throughout the championship…Scored 99 points against Peru State (Neb.) on Thursday making that its third highest scoring game of the season…Ryan Imhoff leads team with 41 total points, averaging 20.5 points per game… Match Burnham posted a game high 21 points with five rebounds… As a team, averaged 45 percent from the field, shooting 25-for-56.

Campbellsville: Making its second appearance in championship quarterfinals… Averaging 86 points per game throughout championship, two points better than in regular season (84.3)…Sekou Harris leads team with 37 total points, averaging 18.5 a game… Tyler Hagen led his team with double-digits scoring 21 points… Dii’jon Allen-Jordan earned his 13th double-double scoring 16 points and pulling in 12 rebounds… Tigers went 30-for-65 from the field with 37 total rebounds.