March 16, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A day after all eight seeded teams moved on in the 2007 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball tournament, five unseeded squads advanced on the tournament's second day, setting up a second round with 11 of the original 16 seeded squads left in the bracket.
Campbellsville (Ky.) became the first unseeded team to advance into second-round competition by winning Thursday's opening game, easing past Houston Baptist (Texas) 80-55 behind 31 points and 22 rebounds from Zach Allender, who finished the day 14-of-23 from the floor. Campbellsville led 35-27 at the half, and the Tigers extended the lead in the second half by shooting 63 percent in the game's final 20 minutes. Campbellsville moved on to play the winner of today's contest between Concordia (Calif.) and Lee (Tenn.).
Union (Tenn.) built a 48-28 halftime advantage and had four players reach double figures including a game-high 23 from Mack Bealim, but the Bulldogs would have to fight in the end to hold off California Baptist, 75-62 in the second game of the day at Municipal. Union, who had two players post double-doubles, grabbed a rebounding edge of 46-22 in the 13-point win. Mark Roussin led Cal Baptist with 20 points in the loss.
Concordia (Calif.) took the third game of Thursday's first-round slate and the 11th of the tournament overall, knocking off Lee (Tenn.) 77-61 after jumping out to a 46-28 advantage at the break. Raphael De Silva netted 12 points in the win while Kyle Huggett put in 10, as Concordia forced Lee into 21 turnovers in the 16-point win. Lee was led in scoring by Kedrick Johnson's game-high 22 points, while Sir-Lee Mason also found double figures with 13. The game represented the 2000th NAIA Tournament game held in Kansas City dating back to 1937.
In the day's fourth game, Southern Nazarene (Okla.) came through with the final six points to erase a one-point Westminster (Utah) lead for a 72-67 win, marking the third in the tourney's first round for the Sooner Athletic Conference. Leroy Dawson led the way for the Crimson Storm with 23 points, while Brent Freeman added 17. Danny Stosich led four Westminster players in double figures with 22, as Westminster gave up a two-point halftime lead in the loss.
Coming into the fifth game of the day and the 13th overall in the tournament, Xavier (La.) - a New Orleans program that was unable to field a basketball team a season ago - took down Georgetown (Ky.) 82-79 in one of this season's largest tournament upsets. Xavier trailed 42-34 at the break but opened the half on a 9-3 run and continued to chip away, winning the game by three behind four double-digit scorers, led by Mark Stewart's 19 points and 18 more from Kelechi Okoroha. Georgetown ended its season led by Brian Silverhorn's 19 points.
McKendree (Ill.) was the third team to knock off a seeded club, doing so with an 86-80 win over Mountain State (W. Va.) in the day's sixth contest. A pair of players led McKendree above 20 points, topped by Eric Palm's 29, as McKendree won the game despite shooting 37.7 percent from the floor. Mountain State was led by Tyrice Watkins' 15 points. McKendree led by as many as 12 late and resisted a Mountain State comeback, as the Cougars twice cut the lead to only two points.
The first round's first overtime game waited until Thursday's final contest, as Faulkner (Ala.) became the fifth unseeded squad to advance to the second round, beating San Diego Christian 86-76 in overtime. Brandon Vaughn sent the game into extra frames as the clock ran out, nailing a guarded three with less than 10 seconds left on the clock. Faulkner went on to outscore SDCC 18-8 in the overtime period. Six players found double figures in victory for Faulkner, while Drew Sanchez led all scorers with 31 in the loss.
Tournament play resumes with the second round Friday at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium.
