Kansas City, Mo. – The 7
th-ranked Cougar men's basketball team saw their season come to an end with an 86-68 loss to No. 9 and third seeded William Penn University in the second round of the 2016 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship on Friday afternoon at Municipal Auditorium. Columbia finishes the year with a record of 29-6. The Statesmen improve to 29-6 with the win.
With the Cougars trailing 7-5, WPU reeled off a 9-0 run to extend their lead to double digits at 16-5 with six minutes gone from the first half. The Statesmen held a 21-10 advantage at the midway point and continued to lead by double digits throughout the rest of the half. WPU would carry a 40-27 advantage into intermission after shooting 44 percent from the field. The Cougars shot just 31 percent and were outrebounded 28-14 by the Statesmen.
Columbia opened the second half on fire as they used a 17-2 run, capped off by a
Nic Reynolds three and layup to gain their first lead of the game at 44-42. The Statesmen's Shane Bosek responded with a three at the 15:23 mark to spark a 12-4 run, allowing WPU to go ahead 54-48. A bucket by
Preston Whitfield cut the deficit to four, but another three by Bosek and a basket by Steven Roundtree made the score 59-50 with 10:42 remaining in the game.
WPU continued to lead the Cougars and eventually extended their advantage to 15 at 74-59 with an 8-2 run at the 3:59 mark. Columbia wouldn't be able to comeback from there as the Statesmen outscored the Cougars 12-9 over the final minutes to run away with the 86-68 victory.
The Cougars finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field while WPU ended with a 47 clip. The Statesmen also outrebounded Columbia 54-33 and scored 21 second chance points.
Reynolds led the Cougars with 19 points while
Travis Vogt also finished in double figures with 14 points.
Brady Burford recorded a double-double for WPU with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Roundtree also ended with a double-double, tallying 13 points and 12 rebounds. Kevin Smith and Bosek rounded out the scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
William Penn will advance to Saturday's quarterfinal round, where they will take on No. 1 seed Georgetown (Ky.) at 2:00 p.m.
