Published: March 21, 2008 11:40 pm         

Final Four in balance for MSU today

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Although they are on separate coasts, Mountain State University and Azusa Pacific have an interesting history.

The schools have met five times, with MSU winning three.

The last two times the teams have met, though, Azusa has come away with the win, including an 82-66 quarterfinal victory over MSU in the 2005 national tournament.

Here they go again.

MSU (32-2) and Azusa (24-10) meet at 3 p.m. EST today in the NAIA National Tournament Elite Eight at historic Municipal Auditorium.

“I would use the term ‘rival’ loosely, but I would say it is always a quality opportunity to go out there (against Mountain State),” Azusa coach Justin Leslie said. “Two good teams that play hard and play together. That being said, we’ve had some amazing games. Fun games to watch and fun games to be a part of and I wouldn’t expect anything different going into that. It’s one of those matchups that over the years has continued to bring out good things in both teams.”

“This is a really tough challenge,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “This is the third straight team we’ve played that is a really physical team. So far, we’ve been able to play physical games.”

“We have to put on our work boots and get out there and fight. Azusa has a quality team, a quality program and a quality (coaching) staff.”

MSU advanced Friday with an 84-71 win over unseeded Wayland Baptist and Azusa upset No. 4 seed Louisiana Shreveport 83-69.

Azusa got off to a slow start this season, with a new coach, 30-year-old former Cougar Leslie, and five new starters. But the Cougars caught fire near the end of the year, winning 11 of their last 13 and 14 of their last 17.

Leslie played in four NAIA tournaments with Azusa and was an assistant for four others, so he has seen a good bit of Mountain State.

Davon Roberts, a 6-foot-5 senior transfer from Sacramento State, averages a team-best 16 points for the Cougars. Mike Danielian, who broke Gilbert Arenas’ Grant High School record with 56 points in a game, averages 11.1 points, and Todd Martin, a 6-7, 240-pound senior, averages 10.5 and has 52 threes.

David Burgess, a 6-10 junior from Irvine, Calif., is the brother of former Duke player Chris Burgess, who was the 1997 Sports News National Player of the Year.

Burgess, a transfer from Gonzaga, averaged 9.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

“Size,” Bolen said of his concern about Azusa. “They start a 6-10 transfer from Gonzaga (Burgess), a 6-6 power forward transfer (from Troy State, Martin) and a 6-7, 240-pound three man (Roberts). They have an arsenal of outstanding players.”

Twelve of its 14 players are native Californians.

MSU is lead by James Spencer, the nation’s leading scorer at 24.3 points per game. Adron Marshall, limited to eight in the Cougars’ win over Wayland Baptist, is next at 16.9.

Point guard Jarvis Jackson has scored 42 in two tournament games and is averaging 21.5 points in four postseason games.

“They execute very well and they have some players that can absolutely go off,” Leslie said of MSU. “One thing about Mountain State I’m just noticing is that they have more depth at the perimeter than in the past. And that’s scary because you stop one guy and they bring another in and he’s just waiting for his opportunity to make an impact in the game.”

The winner of the Azusa-MSU game will advance to the Final Four Monday night.