KANSAS CITY, Mo.  – Pikeville College slid out of Cinderella's slipper and donned the crown of a champion Tuesday night, knocking off Mountain State University 83-76 in overtime to win the 2011 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship.

Pikeville finished the season with a school-record 30 wins compared with seven losses and became the first team in NAIA history to beat five seeded teams en route to the title.

“Our motto all season has been 'All In.' This isn't just about us, about this team and this staff,” said Kelly Wells, who was named National Coach of the Year. “This is bigger than us. This is for all of us. Everyone who ever played at Pikeville or coached there or came to a game to offer support. It's for all of Eastern Kentucky, for all the mountains and the entire Commonwealth.

“This is for everybody. I hope they're as proud of us as we were to represent them out here this week.”

It is the first national championship in a men's sport in Pikeville College history, the first NAIA title and only the third in school history, after two championships by the women's bowling team.

Sophomore Trevor Setty won the Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player Award after matching his career high with 32 points and pulling down 17 rebounds.

The Maysville product, who won two Kentucky state titles at Mason County including one playing for Wells, came into the postseason with a chip on his shoulder. “It bothered me that I wasn't even honorable mention all-conference,” he said. “I'll admit that. But tonight we won the national championship and I think people know. We're the champions.”

Setty finished the tournament as its leading scorer with 108 points, and added 49 rebounds while stroking 18 three-point shots.

Mountain State Coach Bob Bolen, who fell to 1-3 in championship games, praised Setty. “He was shooting from 6-7 feet behind the line,” he said of Setty, who finished 7-of-12 from downtown. “I thought some of his three-point shots we had a good handle on.”

The five-game win streak in the tournament was the longest stretch of wins since the team won six straight from Nov. 10 through Dec. 2.

Setty was joined on the all-tournament team by seniors Vance Cooksey and Quincy Hankins-Cole.  

Cooksey, who was held to five points on Tuesday, led the tournament with 35 assists and 14 steals, while Hankins-Cole closed his career with four straight double-doubles, including 21 points and 16 rebounds in the finals.

Hankins-Cole finished with a tournament-best 59 rebounds and had back-to-back 16-rebound games in the last two nights.

Pikeville trailed most of the game and led only one time in the second half of a game that never saw a lead of more than seven points. It was Hankins-Cole who stepped to the line with 28 seconds left and tied the game with two free throws to send it to overtime tied at 68.

Hankins-Cole entered the national tournament a 66 percent free throw shooter on the season but hit 24-of-30 (80 percent) in the tournament.

Mountain State (33-4) junior Doug Wiggins made two free throws 19 seconds into overtime to put the Cougars in front, but Hankins Cole scored inside a minute later to tie the game for the sixth time. With 2:55 left, senior Justin Hicks hit a running floater to put the Bears in front 72-70.

They never trailed again.

Hicks, who hit three three-point shots in the game's first 3:10 to get his team off to a quick start, finished with 21 points in his final game and finished his career with 1,571 points, one point shy of the school's Top 10.

--PC--