March 19, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - No. 13 seed Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) reached the second round of the 2008 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship with a 61-47 victory Wednesday against Columbia College (Mo.) at Municipal Auditorium.

In a battle of the Cougars, Azusa Pacific held Columbia to just 29.3 percent shooting (17-of-58) to move into the second round of tournament action. Azusa Pacific goes to 23-10 on the year, will square off with No. 4 seed Louisiana State University at Shreveport Friday at 10:45 a.m. CST in Kansas City.

Columbia led for most of the first half, building its largest lead at 22-15 on a three-pointer by Jason Ellis with 6:29 left in the period. Azusa Pacific then reeled off 11 consecutive points to grab a 26-22 lead in the final two minutes of the half. Brett Hoskins drilled a three-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to pull Columbia within 26-25 at the intermission.

Early in the second half, Columbia took its final lead of the game, 30-28, on a three-point field goal by Trae Hall with 17:47 left. Azusa Pacific responded with a 9-0 run, capped by David Stafford's three-pointer at the 15:09 mark to give his team a 37-30 advantage. Azusa Pacific quickly built its lead to double digits and led by as many as 19 points to post the win.

Todd Martin and Davon Roberts each scored a team-high 15 points to lead Azusa Pacific. Roberts also grabbed 10 rebounds. David Burgess, who had just two points in the contest, pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds for Azusa Pacific, which held a 54-32 edge on the boards.

Trae Hall closed out his career by leading Columbia with 12 points, while Ellis came off the bench to add 11 points. Mikel Fields hauled in six rebounds for Columbia, which wraps up its season with a record of 25-9.