Yotes Outlast Cornerstone in OT at NAIA Championships
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Keun Palu-Thompson canned a go-ahead 3-pointer with just over a minute remaining in overtime, as the College of Idaho overcame a 13-point second half deficit to defeat Cornerstone University, 86-82, in the second-round of the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship inside the Sanford Pentagon.
Talon Pinckney scored a career-high 24 points, surpassing the 1,000-point mark for his career – none more important than his game tying 3-pointer inside the final 20 seconds of regulation – forcing the overtime.
"This is the most gutsy win I've ever been a part of. Our team never stopped believing," head coach Colby Blaine told the Idaho Press. "Even when we were down in the second half, everyone kept saying 'we're not going home, we're not going home.'"
The Coyotes (30-5) advance to the national quarterfinals for the third time in the last four seasons and will meet Morningside (Iowa) tomorrow night at 6 p.m. (CST)
C of I struggled in stopping Golden Eagles (26-9) post Sam VanderSluis, who scored a game-high 39 points and 14 rebounds – including three free throws with 13 minutes left in the game gave the Michigan squad a 56-43 lead. Following a timeout, the Yotes answered with a 15-2 run – Palu-Thompson starting the rally with a steal and basket; Gibson Berryhill canned two 3's and a Matt Meyers triple got C of I even at 58-58.
The Yotes, who trailed 15-4 early on, took their first lead of the night at 65-63 after a Connor Desaulniers inside bucket, but CU regained the lead following seven points from VanderSluis – taking a 75-72 lead. Pinckney answered, canning a step-back triple at the head of the key to tie the score and C of I earned a defensive stop to end regulation.
Tied 80-80 late in the extra period, Palu-Thompson splashed his third 3-pointer of the night to give the Coyotes the lead. Trailing 83-82, CU had a chance to win – but VanderSluis turned the ball on consecutive possessions – with the Yotes closing out the victory at the free throw line.
"Tournaments are won with leadership, and we saw that out of our senior, Keun Palu-Thompson today," Blaine said. "He was phenomenal. His energy in the timeouts, he was telling guys 'we're not going home we're going to figure this out.' And then you look at his stat line at the end of the game, he's 8 of 10 from the field and has a huge 3 at the end of the game to seal the deal for us."
Pinckney became the 27th C of I player to surpass 1,000 points in his career with a lay-up early in the second half – adding four assists, four rebounds and three steals in the victory. Palu-Thompson was 8-of-10 from the field for the Yotes, with Berryhill adding 11. Jake Bruner had five points and a team-best eight rebounds – but was one of three C of I players to foul out in trying to stop the 6-foot-8 VanderSluis.
VanderSluis was 13-of-19 from the field and 13-of-15 from the line in the loss, with Christian Rodriguez scoring 12 and Gabe Meriwether adding 10. CU made 49-percent of their field goals and held a 38-36 rebound edge, but committed 14 turnovers – that the Yotes turned into 22 points.