Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia Cougar men's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the American Midwest Conference (AMC) postseason tournament tonight after defeating No. 19 Park University in the semifinals.  The No. 9 ranked Cougars improve to 27-5 as the second seed in the tournament.

The two teams played a closely contested game for the first 20 minutes of action, resulting in a one-point differential at the half in the Cougars favor.  Columbia led by as many as eight late in the half but the sharp shooting Pirates clawed their way back by shooting 52 percent from the field and limiting the Cougars to just 43 percent shooting. 

The shooting percentages were reversed for the second half as Columbia came out of the gate strong and maintained an advantage on the boards to keep the visitors down.  Although the Cougars had two more turnovers than the Pirates, Columbia converted every one of those miscues into points helping them walk away with the five-point win.

Six of the nine Columbia players that saw action tonight finished the contest in double figures.  Senior Zach Rockers led with 15 points while Malik Ray, Jackson Dubinski and Jesse Brown all ended with 12 apiece.  Travis Vogt chipped in 11 points and Nic Reynolds posted 10.  Ray had a game high nine rebounds while Chantel Stanciel dished out six assists. 

Derrick Williams led all players with 27 points for Park.

With the win the Cougars advance to the AMC tournament championship on Monday, March 7^th.  Since fifth seeded William Woods University knocked off top-seeded and No. 11 ranked Freed-Hardeman University by a score of 92-82 tonight, the Cougars will host the Owls for the conference's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship.  Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. on Bob Burchard Court in Southwell Complex.