Cougs upset in first round

The outcome of this nail-biter was decided in the final few possessions. With Columbia College leading 59-58 and 28 seconds remaining Olivet’s Lee Coomler, the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference MVP, took an inbound pass from halfcourt and drove down the right lane and hit a tough game-winning layup.

Cougar senior guard Kenny Moore, who has played big for the Cougars in critical stages of games throughout the season, will end his career as the goat in this contest. With 13 seconds remaining, Moore waited for his teammates to spread out and isolate him with Olivet guard Tyler Field. Moore penetrated the Tiger defense and shot a running 2-foot jumper that bounced off the back of the rim and out. Olivet forward Zach Freeman then hit two free throws to seal the Cougars’ fate.

“I had a good look at the shot,” said Moore, who finished with six points. “It looked good, it felt good, it bounced around the rim a couple of times. It just happened to come out.”

Trading baskets with the Tigers throughout the game, Columbia College had numerous opportunities to pull away. The Cougars led by as many as seven points with 7:15 remaining but could not convert on Olivet turnovers.

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game,” said senior forward Lawrence Thomas, an All-American Midwest Conference selection. “We did everything we needed to do to win this game, the ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

Columbia College finishes the season with a record of 26-8, having won the American Midwest Conference tournament championship to earn the automatic bid into the NAIA tournament. Olivet (28-8), CCAC Tournament champions, move on to face the winner of the No. 4 Birmingham-Southern and Lewis-Clark State game.

“These were two championship teams going at it today,” Cougar coach Bob Burchard said. “That’s exactly how the game was played.”

Coomler, who came into the tournament averaging 19.7 points, led the Tigers with 15 points. Guard Brian McCauley and forwards Drew Neal and Freeman each had 14.

“We turned it up a notch in those last few minutes,” said Coomler. “At that point our senior leadership took over.”

Olivet, which started four seniors, picked up its defensive intensity and was able to contain the Cougar scoring. With the exception of junior guard Jerrod Thompson’s 21 points, no other Cougar scored more than six points.

“It’s a huge disappointment for a team this good to go out this early,” said Thompson, another Cougar All-AMC selection.

Columbia College had two more turnovers than Olivet (16-14), but outrebounded the Tigers 36-24.

“They were the more aggressive team,” said Tiger coach Ralph Hodge. “We weren’t pleased with our offense, but we played outstanding defensively. We got a little lucky in this one.”

The Cougars were clearly the more talented team, but Olivet was more fundamentally sound. In several occasions in the first half, the Tigers played the pick-and-roll to perfection and used countless backdoor cuts for easy layups. One time, Neal spun off his defender and received an inbound pass from Field for an alley-oop dunk. Despite the easy buckets by Olivet, the Cougars led 34-31 at the half.

The second half was a different story. Columbia College went into its suffocating zone defense, forcing Olivet to shoot from farther away.

Coomler responded with a strong shooting performance, going 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Thompson was doing the same at the other side of the court, hitting five of his 13 3-pointer attempts.

But in the end, it was defense that gave Olivet the victory.

Columbia College was held scoreless in the game’s final minute. Olivet’s defensive pressure was the key to its crucial 7-3 spurt in the final two minutes. On two occasions, Tiger guards stole Cougar cross-court passes leading to breakaway layups led by Coomler’s game-high four steals.

“It’s a hard thing to chew on, but that’s how it is,” Thomas said.

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