LEWIS
67th
Annual
Buffalo
Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball
National Championship
Municipal Auditorium –
Kansas City,
Mo.
Game #23 –
Second Round
March 26, 2004
OKLAHOMA CITY
KNOCKS OFF SECOND STRAIGHT SEEDED FOE, 79-65
(Kansas City,
Mo.)—Unseeded
Oklahoma City
Univer
sity
defeated a seeded team for the second time in as
many days with a 79-65 win over No. 10 Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)
in the second round of the 67th Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I
Men’s Basketball National Championship Friday at Municipal Auditorium.
Senior guard Eric Tatum
led the way with 25 points as
Oklahoma City
advances to the NAIA quarterfinal round for the
first time since 2000. The Stars move to 20-11 on the year and will face the
University
of
Mobile
(Ala.),
the tournament’s No. 15 seed, Saturday at
6 p.m. (CST).
Friday’s victory followed on the heels of the Stars’ 81-48 upset of No. 7
Columbia College (Mo.) from
Thursday.
After
Oklahoma City
built a 35-30 lead at the intermission,
Lewis-Clark
State battled
back. The Warriors tied the game at 49-all on a basket by junior guard Joey Ray
with
13:17
remaining. The teams traded baskets for the next
few minutes before the Stars took the lead for good with a 15-2 run to go up
72-59 with
3:53
to play. Oklahoma City shot 53.1 percent
(17-of-32) in the second half while holding Lewis-Clark State to just 37.5
percent (12-of-32) in the period.
“The thing I admire
about Lewis-Clark is that they never give up,” said
Oklahoma City
head coach Win Case. “We had a couple of times
when we had a chance to pull away but we never did. My hat is off to them.”
Senior forward Emigijus
Lukosis connected for 22 points for
Oklahoma City,
while sophomore guard Ryan Goodwin added 12 points. Senior center Eric Tatum
contributed 10 points and a team-best 11 rebounds for the Stars.
Lewis-Clark
State,
which finished the year at 25-6, saw its 10-game win streak snapped with the
loss. Ray led the Warriors with 19 points, while junior forward Martin Brothers
chipped in with 14 points. Senior forward Adam Trombley closed out his
collegiate career with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
