Published: March 22, 2008 11:57 pm      

Cougars race into Fab Four

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rarely does a missed free throw turn a game in the favor of the team that missed.

But that’s exactly what happened in No. 5 seed Mountain State’s stunningly comfortable 72-51 win over Azusa Pacific in the quarterfinals of the NAIA national tournament Saturday.

Jarvis Jackson had just given MSU its first lead of the second half on a drive to the basket and he was fouled. But the normally outstanding free throw shooter — he was 17-of-19 in the tournament at that point — missed.

Big Jason McGriff, the Cougars’ 6-foot-9, 265-pound post presence, cleared the board.

He kicked it back to Jackson, who had dropped outside the three-point line. Jackson let loose a trey that rattled through, giving MSU a five-point lead.

From there, the rout was on.

MSU (33-2) went on a 14-0 run to pull ahead by nine and then outscored the West Coast Cougars 20-4 over the next 8:28 to win in convincing fashion at historic Municipal Auditorium.

Ironically, that missed free throw was the only miss from the charity stripe in the game by either team.

But because of it, and the extended second-half run in which MSU outscored Azusa Pacific 41-19 after the game was tied at the half, MSU advanced to the NAIA Final Four for the first time since winning the title in 2004.

The Cougars will face top-seeded and unbeaten Georgetown (Ky.) at 7:30 p.m. Monday. The game will be televised live on CBSCS (Channel 317) and Paul Van Scott will have the play-by-play on WTNJ 105.9-FM.

“That was a big play by (McGriff),” said Jackson, who finished with 17 points in the game. “He got it and immediately kicked it out to me. I was open so I took it. I heard coach scream ‘No!’ when I shot it. There was 35 seconds left on the shot clock, so it would have been a bad shot if I missed it. Fortunately, it went in. That’s the way we play.”

“That was a big play, it put us up by five,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “From there on, we had about six or seven straight stops on defense. Because of that, we were able to turn it into an up-and-down game, and that definitely favored us.”

The day after hitting 13 threes in a win over Wayland Baptist, MSU returned to Municipal and hit 11-of-26 three-pointers.

It was a second day of steady shooting from beyond the arc that helped break the game wide open.

After Azusa Pacific started the half with a trey that gave it a 35-32 lead, James Spencer answered with a trey, setting up Jackson and McGriff. But the Cougars didn’t stop there. Adron Marshall and Spencer followed with three-pointers over the next two minutes to extend MSU’s lead to 11, 46-35.

The West Coast Cougars stopped the bleeding when Kimarley Williams converted a three-point play.

From that point on, the MSU juggernaut closed the door with a 20-4 run.

“Unfortunately, I have seen this before,” Azusa Pacific coach Justin Leslie said. “And it was the second half of last year’s quarterfinals against Oklahoma City (when Azusa led by 16 with 16 minutes to play and lost by 16). It was the exact same game. These are explosive teams back here in terms of ability to score with the basketball. They flexed their muscle in the second half and we had no answer.”

Spencer led the Cougar assault with 20 points and nine rebounds. It was the 28th time that Spencer had scored at least 20 points in a game.

“I only got four hours of sleep last night,” Spencer said. “I was excited about this game. I stayed up and watched (NCAA) highlights on ESPN.”

McGriff also played a great game with 10 rebounds, a team-best five assists and six points.

“He can really pass the basketball,” Bolen said. “I haven’t seen a better passing big man. We were running our offense through him (in the second half) even though he only had six points. When your big man has double figures in rebounds and leads you in assists and your two guard (Spencer) has eight defensive rebounds, things are going right.”

“I think we’re starting to get our swagger back,” Spencer said. “We really played well, especially in the second half. This is why we came out here. To survive and advance. I don’t think people are respecting us, especially after we lost to Lindsay Wilson. But we’re starting to play well.”

The first half was a back-and-forth affair.

Mountain State scored the first baskets of the game on back-to-back treys by Jackson and Marshall. Azusa Pacific fought back and eventually held the lead by as many as seven in the second half, including 30-23 when Mike Danielian hit a three with 4:11 left.

From there, MSU would go on a 9-2 tear to even the score at 32-32 at the break.

“That was important, tying it at the half,” Bolen said. “That gave us some momentum going into the half.”

“We knew we could play with them,” said Marshall, who had 15 points and seven rebounds. “We felt like we took their best shot in the first half and we really didn’t play that well. In the second half James and Jarvis got us going and we just kind of followed them. Words can’t describe how it feels to be going (to the Fab Four).”

The 51 points scored by Azusa Pacific was its second lowest total of the season.

“Defensively, I thought we were excellent,” Bolen said. “For us to get all those stops early in the second half was key. They are a team that can score. Holding them to 19? It’s strong.”

Danielian led the West Coast Cougars with 13 points and Davon Roberts had 10.

David Burgess, a 6-foot-10 center whose brother Chris played at Duke, was held to four points and four rebounds.

The win helped MSU avenge an 82-66 loss to Azusa Pacific in the 2005 tournament.



AZUSA PACIFIC (24-11)

Todd Martin 2-10 0-0 4, Davon Roberts 3-10 2-4 10, David Burgess 2-3 0-0 4, Mike Danielian 2-5 0-0 13, Mike Caffese 2-4 0-0 5, Chidi Ajufo 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Rouse 1-2 0-0 3, Ashton Roberts 0-0 0-0 0, Matt Oliver 1-7 2-2 4, Kimarly Williams 2-5 1-1 5, David Stafford 0-3 0-0 0, David Gantt 0-1 0-0 0, Caleb Burgess 1-1 0-1 3, Peter Bond 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-58 7-7 51.

MOUNTAINSTATE (33-2)

James Spencer 6-11 5-5 20, Jarvis Jackson 5-8 4-5 17, Tyrice Watkins 1-2 0-0 2, Adron Marshall 5-12 2-2 15, Jason McGriff 3-9 0-0 6, Ralph Legg 2-4 0-0 5, Denzel Lyles 0-1 0-0 0, Daniel Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Vedrin Zivic 0-1 0-0 0, Vaso Aleksic 0-0 0-0 0, Papa Gassama 0-2 0-0 0, Rod Green 0-0 0-0 0, Ermin Tarcin 3-7 0-0 7. Totals 25-57 11-12 62.

Halftime—Tied 32-32. 3-Point Goals—Azusa Pacific 6-27 (Martin 0-5, Roberts 0-2, Danielian 3-6, Caffese 1-3, Rouse 1-2, Oliver 0-3, Williams 0-1, Stafford 0-2, Gantt 0-1, C. Burgess 1-1, Bond 0-1), MSU 11-26 (Spencer 3-5, Jackson 3-5, Watkins 0-1, Marshall 3-8, McGriff 0-2, Legg 1-3, Tarcin 1-2). Fouled Out—none. Rebounds—Azusa Pacific 30 (Roberts 6), MSU 42 (McGriff 10, Spencer 9). Assists—Azusa Pacific 9 (Danielian 3), MSU 11 (McGriff 5). Total Fouls—Azusa Pacific 12, MSU 12. A—4,729.