Mon., March 15, 2010

   MT. LOOKOUT, Mo. -- Poise and defense were paramount in a 77-73 University of Saint Francis win over Oklahoma Wesleyan University that secured the second berth in the NAIA National Championship Game tonight.

  The Cougars (27-9) eliminated the defending champion Eagles with a late-second half comeback and then ground out the win outscoring OWU (31-5) by five (38-33) in the second half.

  USF will play Walsh University for the championship tonight (Tues., March 16) at 8 p.m. Fort Wayne time. The game will be available on the NAIA webstream site and it will also be televised live nation-wide on CBS College Sports. CBS College Sports is available via DirecTV and several cable operators.

  Sophomore guard Qadr Owens went toe-to-toe guarding NAIA Player-of-the-Year Steve Briggs and, along with help from Austin Leisure, wore down the NAIA's No. 2 3-pointers made per game specialist in the second half. Briggs finished with 36 points, 16 in the second half. Owens scored 25 points to lead USF scoring, 19 in the second half, and tracked down six rebounds.

  "Q went to the basket and strong," USF coach Jeff Rekeweg said in a voice that sounded like he had been practicing sword swallowing before the game. "That was crucial to us getting the win along with Q and Austin defending Briggs. He had 30, but he didn't shoot many uncontested shots, espcially in the 2nd half. Q and Austin deserve a lot of credit for that." 

  DeJovaun Sawyer-Davis scored 17 points overcoming an OWU defense that at times played more like tag-team professional wrestling. He also grabbed nine rebounds, eight in the second half, and had two steals. Matt Edmonds powered his way to 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, all in the second half. Leisure added 14 points along with his defense.  Ferdie Morales-Soto scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.

  "Matt and Ferdie had some critical offensive rebounds and putbacks," Rekeweg pointed out. "Getting second chances against OWU is the key to beating them because they thrive on getting those long rebounds to get into transition quickly."

  OWU threatened to run away from the Cougars on back to back 3-pointers by Briggs. His 25-footer pushed the Eagles lead to 40-27 with 3:27 to play in the first half. That was the turning point for USF. The Cougars closed the half with a 12-0 run and missed a chance at the buzzer for the lead.

  "That was the big thing, we were able to keep them from extending it any more," Rekeweg said. "Our guys did a good job of understanding the way they play, they're capable of makin' 2 or 3 3s in a row. We didn't lose our composure."

  "We had to take it one play at a time, one stop at a time and just chip away," Sawyer-Davis said. "It felt better at halftime down just one. 

  The second half was a grinding, physical, bodies-on-the-floor 20 minutes that USF finally gained loose control of on two Sawyer-Davis free throws, an Edmonds bank-shot at 1:37 and 1 of 2 Owens' free throws at 1:25. Over a span of about 16 minutes, there were eight ties and eight lead changes with OWU taking the largest lead over that time at 52-49 with 12:02 to play on a Deantre Harlan 3-pointer. The Cougars never led by more than two points over that stretch until Edmonds powered in a basket in the lane at that 1:37 mark mentioned earlier.

  Leisure made 1 of 2 free thows at 38 seconds for a 72-66 lead, but a Sadiel Rojas rebound and score, then a Briggs steal pulled OWU within two, 72-70, with 30 seconds left. Leisure was fouled and hit 1 of 2 for a 73-70 lead with 28 seconds to play. Fortunately for USF, Owens saved the day grabbing Leisure's second-shot miss. He was fouled and plunked in both free throw for a 75-70 lead with 17 seconds left. Briggs missed a 3-point with seven seconds and Leisure collected the rebound and was fouled. He hit the first, missed the second, and Murray Shaw hit a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left slashing the USF lead to 76-73. Leisure was fouled and made both free throws for a 77-73 lead and the win.

  Now the final hurdle is Walsh, a team the Cougars upset as the No. 2 team, 86-75 back in December at Hutzell Athletic Center.

  "That was a long time ago and I dont' rember anything but winning," Sawyer-Davis said. It was one of just two losses for the Cavaliers, who have won 13 straight including a 67-66 win over Bellvue in Monday's other semifinal on a 3-point buzzer beater by Jeremy Shardo. The Cavs are 31-2 and have four players averaging in double figures. Ricky Jackson leads WU scoring averaing 23.2 points per game (through March  9).

  USF is making its first NAIA National Championship basketball appearance while WU won the title in 2005 as the No. 7 seed. WU is 17-8 in nine NAIA Championship appearances, USF 6-2 in three appearances.

Box score

News-Sentinel Sports Editor Tom Davis was at the Cougars' semifinal game. Check out his coverage. 

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