By Dave Morrison
Register-Herald Sports Editor
KANSAS CITY —
When Jeff Jones lost four big men at the semester break, the Southern Polytechnic coach suddenly became the biggest man on his bench.
No big deal.
He went small.
On Friday he rode those guards — most notably Jas Rogers and Xavier Dawson — into today’s NAIA Elite Eight with a 93-90 double overtime win over Mountain State.
MSU (which finished 29-3) was the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
“When we lost our four big men, I don’t know if that was a blessing or not,” Jones said. “But we definitely rode our guards the rest of the season. And they responded. We’ve had to play small ball and it’s worked for us.”
Rogers had 30 — including nine in overtime — and Dawson had 19.
MSU led by as many as 16 in the first half and by nine — 56-47 with 14:30 left.
But a 12-3 run by the Hornets, including back-to-back steals by another guard, Jordan Lemons, tied the score at 59.
From there it was tied eight times.
MSU’s Nick Aldridge had a chance to win it at the buzzer but he was heavily defended and his shot was off.
The score was tied on three other occasions in the overtime, the final time at 84-84.
Rogers proved to be too tough to handle down the stretch.
He made a three to give SPSU an 87-84 lead with 1:32 left, which started nine straight points by the Hornets star to end the game.
MSU’s Deandre Duncan missed the second of two free throws after making it 87-85, and Brian Ormon corralled the rebound but couldn’t make the stickback (Ormon finished with 18 points and 20 rebounds, 10 of them offensive boards).
“I can’t fault Brian Ormon,” MSU coach Bob Bolen said. “He did everything he could. Both our bigs played well. The bottom line is their guards dominated the game. They were tougher.”
Rogers then drove the court, made a layin and completed a three-point play with just under a minute remaining.
Barry Wellington made a pair of free throws with 51 seconds left to make it a one-possession game.
MSU seemed to get a break when Rogers missed two free throws but the Hornets came up with a big offensive board. Rogers returned to the line, knocking down a pair of free throws.
He had another late in the game to put SPSU up 93-87.
Ormon hit a free throw with one second left to end the scoring.
Nick Aldridge finished with 26 points and 10 rebounds, giving MSU’s two bigs — along with Ormon — 44 points and 30 rebounds.
“Our bigs did everything we expected,” Bolen said. “They did a good job of doubling down in the paint in the second half. That was smart on their part. It left a lot of wide open looks from three and we just couldn’t knock anything down. You can’t go 7-for-23 with that many open looks.”
Jones said his defense did what it had to do.
“We knew we couldn’t stop their big guys’ we’re too small,” Jones said. “We had to slow them down if nothing else and we did that in the second half and overtime.”
“We never could get into our offensive sets because they pushed us too far out (on the perimeter),” Bolen said.
Winston Robinson finished with 20 points before fouling out with 6:28 left.
“I thought he did a good job on Rogers,” Bolen said. “A lot of what Jas did was after Winston fouled out.”
Barry Wellington added 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
MSU finished the season in the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year, after advancing to the title game in 2008.
The Cougars are 20-11 all-time in the NAIA Tournament.
