March 15, 2006

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Top-ranked Mountain State University (W.Va.) advanced to the second round after an 84-64 win against Southwestern Assemblies of God University (Texas) on opening day of the 2006 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship.  The 32-team, single-elimination tournament runs March 15-21 at Municipal Auditorium.

Mountain State, who spent most of the season as the top team in the country, jumped to the early lead behind Maurice Davis' hot shooting for a 41-22 lead at intermission. Mountain State started off with a 16-2 run and didn't look back in the first half.  The Cougars then shot 12 of 26 in the second half and finished the game at 44.8 percent.  Davis led four Mountain State players in double figures with 20 points.  Mersad Terzic finished with 17 points while Hakim Rasul and Dajuan Tate had 16 and 11 points each, respectively.  Davis also had a game high of 12 rebounds as the Cougars out-rebounded the Lions 52-39. 

Southwestern Assemblies had a slow start but cut the lead to eight points early in the first half. Darius Howard and Julio Osorio led the Lions with 20 points each.  Osorsio also led the team in rebounds with 10.  Matt Daniels brought SWAG to within eight midway thru the second half.  Southwestern Assemblies shot 32 percent for the day.  Southwestern Assemblies finishes their season with a 16-18 record.

Mountain State (29-2) will play Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) in the second round on Friday, March 17 at 8 p.m.  Olivet (22-10) defeated #16 Wayland Baptist University (Texas) 84-77 earlier in the day.