Columbia, Missouri – For the first time in 4,755 days, McPherson College checked into the NAIA National Tournament as they took on the Columbia College Cougars in the opening round on Friday night. The Cougars had won the American Midwest Conference over Williams Baptist University on March 2nd, while the Bulldogs hadn’t played since February 26th in their KCAC Quarterfinal loss to Evangel University.
The Basics
Location: Southwell Complex
Records: MC 20-10 (16-6 KCAC), CC 29-3 (13-1 AMC)
Score: MC 72, CC 74
How it Happened
This game will be remembered by the Bulldogs for decades.
KJ Marshall had the honor of finding the opening bucket of the game following the Bulldogs winning the tip-off, but Columbia managed to score six straight to take a 6-2 lead at the 15:55 mark. Korbin Gunn’s triple at the 14:30 mark was followed quickly by KJ Marshall’s hard-earned second effort to give the Bulldogs back the lead at 7-6 heading into the first media break.
The foul count quickly grew for both sides – each team had four fouls by the 11:30 mark of the half.
McPherson proceeded to extend their lead with shots from inside the arc, moving the ball with precision and opening up the floor. By the 7:30 mark of the half, McPherson held a 17-12 lead over the Cougars. Despite giving up many offensive rebounds, the Cougars were unable to connect on many of their shots. An alley-oop from Korbin Gunn to KJ Marshall with 6:41 left in the half forced a timeout from Columbia. At this point in the game, Columbia was shooting an astonishing 18.5% from the floor (5-27).
The Cougars finally scored on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead down to three at 19-16. McPherson was shooting 44% from the floor, but their offensive weapon in Gunn struggled to find his rhythm in the half. Charles Snyder’s triple in the dying seconds of the half would give McPherson a 28-27 lead into the break.
In the second half, Gunn picked up five points from the charity stripe to keep McPherson’s lead alive at 33-29. Columbia kept themselves in the game with their ability to pick up rebounds on offense; with 16:44 left in the game, Columbia was out-rebounding the Bulldogs 27-23 with 11 of those rebounds on offense.
After a turnover from the Bulldogs, Columbia tied the game at 35-35 on a fast-break layup. They would take the lead at 38-37 shortly after on a triple from Max Rieger. Quran McKinney played well for the Bulldogs but found himself in foul trouble with his third at the 13:40 mark.
After the media timeout, McPherson held a 51-49 lead and started to dominate the paint. The Bulldogs would also have to buy many of their points at the free throw line with Columbia at nine team fouls; the issue was McPherson was shooting 9-15 from the line. With the game tied at 51-51, McKinney found a deep three to give the Bulldogs a 54-51 lead.
Once the Cougars took a 55-54 lead with two consecutive buckets, the crowd started shaking the Southwell Complex.
With less than two minutes to go, McPherson had worked their way into a 58-57 lead. Korbin Gunn headed to the line at the 1:42 mark and knocked home both shots to make it a 60-57 game. A quick score and timeout would follow from the Cougars at 60-59.
Columbia held possession with less than 30 seconds to go; after a missed layup from the Cougars, Tarrance Austin held onto the ball for dear life and forced a tie-up to give McPherson possession. Korbin Gunn would head to the line with 14 seconds remaining and bump McPherson’s lead to 62-59. Columbia would go down and sink a triple to tie the game with just seven seconds left, but then the unthinkable happened.
While driving down the floor with seconds ticking away, at the last second, Gunn would be fouled on an attempt from behind the arc with 1.1 seconds remaining.
You could probably hear the crowd from back in the Holman Fieldhouse.
All three shots failed to drop and the game found its way into overtime.
Columbia took a quick 67-62 lead in overtime; on the other end, the Bulldogs struggled to find shots to fall.
Tarrance Austin was the man in charge for the Bulldogs, scoring every single point for McPherson to keep them alive. With the game at 72-69 and a minute to go, Korbin Gunn’s mid-range attempt with just 30 seconds remaining rattled off and Columbia would be sent to the line. Both shots would miss, giving McPherson one more shot at keeping the game alive.
With eight seconds on the clock, Austin drilled his three-point attempt and tied the game at 72-72. Eight seconds was just enough for Columbia to go down the court and make the go-ahead layup for the 74-72 lead. Gunn’s half-court heave would miss and Columbia took home the 74-72 victory.
