KANSAS CITY – With a late lead slipping away, Trey Rakes buried a corner 3 to lift third-seeded University of Pikeville over No. 2-seed Columbia 56-51 in the second round of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship on Friday night.
For Rakes, a senior, it was a special night. Not only did he hit the biggest shot of the game, he also broke the program record for wins with 112 while sending the Bears to their fourth quarterfinal appearance in program history.
UPIKE will face its toughest test yet on Saturday, facing top-seeded and undefeated LSU-Alexandria (La.) at 6:30 p.m. ET in Municipal Auditorium with a trip to the Fab Four on the line.
Clint Nwosuh led all scorers with 13 points, while Michael Lewis and Darrion Leslie each chipped in with 12. This is the third straight game that Nwosuh has led the Bears. Make no mistake, this was a defensive battle as UPIKE outshot Columbia 39 to 28 percent and the teams combined for 30 turnovers.
Making seven 3s and going 9 for 10 from the free-throw line helped overcome the offensive struggle though as UPIKE won for the first time this season when scoring less than 60 points.
Nathan Biggs paced the Cougars with team highs of 12 points and seven rebounds.
"It was a gutty performance by our guys, we had opportunities to fold but we switched our defense to a zone and it was very effective," said UPIKE head coach Kelly Wells. "Our guys just kept doing the things we wanted them to do."
Tied 49-49 with 15 seconds left, the Bears struggled to find a good look, forcing Rakes to hoist up a shot in the corner that ended up hitting nothing but net. UPIKE decided to foul on the other end, sending Columbia to the stripe down by three. Columbia made both, but Rakes did the same to lead by three again in the final seconds.
The Bears (28-7) tried to foul early again, but missed, however Jackson Dubinski's open look was off the mark, allowing Michael Lewis to seal the win with two free throws.
"I go back and forth on the late fouling situation," said Wells. "I've watched so many games this season where teams knock that 3 down. We whiffed on the last foul and gave up an open look, but the good Lord was looking down on us."
All of the drama aside, the game probably shouldn't have ever been that close.
UPIKE led by 10 at 39-29 with 11:27 left to play after a Rakes 3-pointer and was still up by eight with six minutes to go.
But over the next five minutes the Cougars (27-6) went on a 12-4 run to tie things up. The final six points came under the two-minute mark, starting with a 3 from Hank Matthews, then Preston Whitfield finishing a 3-point play to tie the score with a minute on the clock.
Columbia failed to make another field goal though as Rakes' heroic 3 and steady free-throw shooting helped the Bears advance.
UPIKE led 30-21 at halftime after a first half that saw it jump out to leads as high as 11 points on a Nwosuh layup in the final two minutes. Columbia led just once in the game at 10-9, but a 14-4 UPIKE spurt followed to help swing the momentum, ending with a 3 from the top of the key by Perry.
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