Overcame Early Deficit, Conquer America's Toughest Tournament

VIDEOS ADDED

The #4 Concordia Eagles won their second NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship on Tuesday night, March 20, as they defeated #2 Oklahoma Baptist, 72-69, inside Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, MO in the 75th Anniversary Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship.

The Eagles got it done like they have all season, with great teamwork and a pure passion for playing for each other.  CU left nothing on the court, and claimed the title they worked so hard to earn.  CU senior, Cameron Gliddon, earned the Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player Award for his tournament efforts.  On Tuesday he scored 11 points and had a barrage of threes drop to push CU out ahead.  Dakota Downs won the Charles Stevenson Hustle Award for his relentless effort this past week.  He scored nine points in the championship, while grabbing two boards.  All-Tournament player Tommy Granado was huge again, scoring 16 points and snagging six rebounds.  Fellow All-Tournament standout Austin Simon added 13 points and two assists, and flat out took over for the first couple minutes of the second half on the offensive end.  Senior Edward Willis was his usual self, in the middle of every scrum and doing anything to help his team win.  Point guard Donnell Phifer was all-world on Tuesday night, scoring time after time as his team ran isolation plays for him to take advantage of his quickness.  Even as OBU was making their charge, Phifer was never rattled and welcomed the ball in his possession.   He scored 14 points, dished out four assists, and even grabbed four rebounds.  DeLaun Frazier, the microwave, gave his usual bench push, coming right in and draining a big three.  Not enough can be said about the effort these young men gave for each other.  They wanted it too bad and would not be denied on this rainy night in Kansas City.  Head coach Ken Ammann, the 2012 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, has to be commended for his season long tutelage of this group.  It is rare that a team gels this closely and gains the ultimate prize.  Ammann and his staff were absolutely outstanding this season as they guided young men to the ultimate prize.

"They were a great team, and they showed how good they were jumping out on us early," Concordia head coach and Rawlings-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coach of the Year Ken Ammann said. "We showed how much heart we have by coming back. I am so proud of our guys. What a great group of guys to be around, and it was so much fun all year."

The Bison almost snatched the game away in the final seconds, after CU had led for the entire second half.  The Municipal Auditorium crowd held its collective breath as Oklahoma Baptist got three cracks at a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds. Emmanuel Wilson of the Bison misfired on a three in the corner with 16 seconds left, but David Johnson tracked down the offensive rebound and Oklahoma Baptist called timeout with nine seconds left. Wilson got another chance with three seconds to go, but his attempt from several feet beyond the arc was blocked by Austin Simon, kicking the ball over to Heath McKay, whose rushed 3-pointer rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.  The CU bench exploded with joy as the Eagles were crowned champs in 2012.

The game on Tuesday night on the other hand, did not start well for CU.  The Bison raced out to a 16-1 lead on a slew of threes and jumpers.  Oklahoma Baptist's Desmond Griffin went for two in the paint to push the lead to 18-3 with 14:51 left in the first half, but the Bison would fail to notch another field goal until the 6:56 mark when David Johnson's bucket allowed them to regain the lead at 22-21. The extended drought saw Oklahoma Baptist turn it over seven times as Concordia put together a 19-3 run that put the Eagles in front.  With 16:12 left, CU gained their footing, calmed their nerves, and clawed their way back.  Not enough can be said of the calm and poise they showed as they didn't panic on the biggest stage, and trusted what got them there.  Granado scored inside, Phifer hit a jumper, Downs scored a layup, Simon made two freebies, and Frazier dialed a three off the bench to close the gap to 18-12 with 12:36 left.  Most CU fans would have been happy with a five or six point deficit at halftime, but the Eagles had a different idea.  After an OBU free throw, Phifer scored off an offensive rebound, and Granado converted inside on three occasions to knot it at 19.  Granado completed the three-point play to put CU up one, and the teams traded leads to the 1:06 mark.  Granado scored two more buckets and Gliddon found the range from deep inside 30 seconds to give CU the 33-31 halftime lead.

The second half quickly became the Austin Simon show, as the senior scored the first eight points for CU, including two-huge threes.  CU starting playing their game, being patient on offense and attacking when the opportunity presented itself.  Phifer found himself in the open court on two straight possessions, one time finding Downs for the finish on a pretty pump fake, and then converting a twisting layup against bigger defenders.  OBU standout Heath McKay nailed a nice jumper off a pump fake, but CU guard Tommy Stangl came right back by knocking a jumper of his own to make it 49-41 CU with 13:58 left.  Gliddon later found a rhythm midway through the second half, finding the bottom of the net on 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. The second trey tied former Eagle Jeremy Groth's tournament record for 3-pointers in a single event with 21 and gave Concordia a 57-48 lead with 9:32 left.

"We got a lead and then started turning the ball over and didn't even make them work," Oklahoma Baptist head coach Doug Tolin said. "We got a good look and a good shot at the end. I think our kids have set the bar high for OBU basketball as far as character and heart."

OBU pulled within six on a layup off a CU turnover with 6:53 left, but Phifer responded with two floaters in the lane off isolation plays as he ran the clock all the way down, and CU went back up 10.  OBU started living at the foul line as CU could not get the charge calls they were looking for.  Emmanuel Lewis hit a three for OBU to make it 67-60 with three minutes left.  The Bison's Jacobi Isham made one free throw, but scored a layup for a three-point play off the offensive rebound to make it 67-64.  Phifer scored another huge runner to go up five with 2:15 left, and CU got the stop and Downs was sent to the line.  He made one-of-two to make it 70-64.  Lewis drained another three as a loose ball found him and he dialed it in to pull within three.  CU missed the front end of a one and one, and Jacobi Isham scored an easy layup in the paint.  OBU fouled senior Austin Simon, and he hit two huge free throws like a man not willing to lose.  The crazy final sequence ensued and CU faithful rushed the court to celebrate the school's fourth national championship.

Gliddon would not get another attempt from the field as he finished the 2012 tournament with 92 points (18.4 average) as he connected on 21-of-39 3-point tries in five games.

OBU's offensive rebounding in the second half kept them in the game, as it did for CU in the first half.  OBU won the rebounding battle 36-29.  OBU went 19-22 from the stripe, while CU was at 6-15.  The Eagles outscored the Bison 17-4 in points off turnovers, 30-24 in points in the paint, 17-10 in second chance points, and 15-0 in bench points.  It was the kind of balance the Eagles lived on in this tourney.

The Eagles, who shot just 37.5 percent from the field in the first half, heated up in the second half to finish at 45.0 percent (27-for-60) for the game. Concordia's Tommy Granado paced the team with 16 points, 14 of which came in a huge first half.

Wilson, the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Player of the Year, led the Bison with 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting. Marques Anderson posted 15 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma Baptist, which played without the services of DeAngelo McIntosh, who suffered an injury in the semifinal victory.

Concordia closes its season at 31-7 and improved to 24-8 all-time in 10 national tournament appearances. Oklahoma Baptist ends its season at 32-5 overall and fell to 58-22 in 25 appearances at the National Championship.

Game notes:
Concordia - Concordia wins its second national championship, last winning the crown in 2003 ... The Eagles also finished second in both 2004 and 2007 ... Concordia is one of only three programs from the Golden State Athletic Conference (Azusa Pacific, Biola) to advance to the championship game ... The Eagles finished the season 26-1 when leading at halftime ... Concordia is now 24-8 (.750) all-time at the national tournament, the highest winning percentage among the teams in this year's field.

Oklahoma Baptist - Oklahoma Baptist has finished as national tournament runner-up six times (1965, 1967, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2012) ... Oklahoma Baptist has now played in eight championship games, the most of any team in tournament history ... The Bison were 3-4 when trailing at the half this season ... Senior guard Emmanuel Wilson finished his four-year career at Oklahoma Baptist with 1,399 points.

All-Tournament Team
Davey Hopkins, Biola (Calif.)
Cameron Gliddon, Concordia (Calif.)
Tommy Granado, Concordia (Calif.)
Austin Simon, Concordia (Calif.)
Derrick Parker, LSU Shreveport (La.)
Brandon Brown, Montana Western
Cam Miller, Mountain State (W.Va.)
Emmanuel Wilson, Oklahoma Baptist
Heath McKay, Oklahoma Baptist
Donald Williams, Rogers State (Okla.)

Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player Award: Cameron Gliddon, Concordia (Calif.)

Charles Stevenson Hustle Award: Dakota Downs, Concordia (Calif.)

Dr. James Naismith-Emil S. Liston Sportsmanship Award: Belhaven (Miss.)

Charles A. Krigel Award*: Tom Kelsey, Belhaven (Miss.)

Chuck Walden Memorial Trophy (given to Honorary Coaches of championship team): Dr. Phil and Mary Pattison

Frank Cramer Award^: Ron Cooper, Olathe Medical Center

2011 - 12 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Player of the Year: Emmanuel Wilson, Oklahoma Baptist

2011 - 12 Rawlings-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coach of the Year: Ken Ammann, Concordia (Calif.)

* given to coach of the team that best exhibits respect, civility, integrity and fair play, the qualities that define sportsmanship
^ presented annually to the person or persons who has done the most for the basketball tournament during a period of years