KANSAS CITY – It took overtime for top-seeded LSU-Alexandria to get past No. 3-seed University of Pikeville 84-80 in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship on Saturday night in Municipal Auditorium.
The Generals will take their undefeated 34-0 record into the national semifinals on Monday, but they barely escaped a UPIKE team determined to hand them their first loss.
Twice the Bears found themselves facing big deficits, but both times they rallied back with veteran savviness from Trey Rakes and a bulldog mentality from talented junior Darrion Leslie.
Pikeville trailed by seven late in the first half at 29-22, but went on a 7-0 run before eventually taking a 3-point lead into halftime after a banked in 3 by Rakes at the buzzer.
The Generals took an even larger lead in the second half at 56-47 before being outscored 12-3 over the next six minutes to see the score tied again. UPIKE took its first lead since the 17:18 mark of the half at 60-59 on a free throw by Culbreath.
Rakes, who is the all-time wins leader at Pikeville with 112, may have saved his best performance for his last. He scored a game-high 21 points while shooting 8 of 13 from the field and 3 of 7 from behind the arc. Culbreath chipped in with 17, including an 8-of-10 showing from the stripe, and Leslie had 16 points and six rebounds.
Brandon Moss tallied 20 points for the Generals and Brian Sylvester added 16. LSU-Alexandria outshot UPIKE 48 to 43 percent from the field and led the game on the glass 41-38. Taking Culbreath's solid performance out of the picture, UPIKE connected on just 10 of 21 free throws.
Culbreath ended up making six straight freebies late in the second half, helping Pikeville stay up by two with 5:30 to play. When Leslie got loose for a layup three minutes later, the Bears had a four-point lead. But Gilbert Talbot made a jumper and Jordin Williams made two free throws to tie it up at 70 with 1:42 left, and neither team scored again.
It was back and forth turnovers and missed shots the rest of regulation, including the final eight seconds when Leslie scooped up a loose ball and drove the distance with his shot around the basket just missing as time expired.
Starting with a foul call on the opening tip, the overtime period rarely went right for UPIKE. LSU-Alexandria scored the first four points before leading by as many as eight points at 80-72 on two Williams free throws with 1:29 to play.
The next 30 seconds brought the Bears some hope as Clint Nwosuh made two free throws, then hit a 3 after a steal to make it a 3-point game. The Generals even turned the ball over on the next possession, but Leslie lost control and ended up fouling, allowing LSU-Alexandria to go up by five at the free-throw line.
Rakes provided his last chance at heroics with a 3 in the final seconds to make it a 2-point game, but Williams kept the Generals out in front by going 6 for 6 at the line in the final 1:30.
UPIKE had led by as many as five points in the second half when Leslie got it started with a tough bucket in the paint, but LSU-Alexandria used a 16-5 spurt to get back in the game. Despite the Bears leading for the final five minutes, the Generals got it to overtime by making a pair of big plays down the stretch and never looked back in the extra period.
For LSU-Alexandria, this is its first trip to the national semifinals in just its third season of sponsoring men's basketball.
UPIKE ends its season with a 28-8 record, giving it five straight seasons with 25 or more victories. The Bears have won 28 or more games just six times in the 62-year history of the program.
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