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Beacons Fall Short in First Round

Beacons Fall Short in First Round

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#4 Cornerstone 84, NCU 68
Stats Comparison NCU CU
Points 68 84
Rebounds 35 31
Assists 11 13
Fouls 27 21
Shooting % 41.5% 48.9%
3-point % 20% 41.2%
Free Throw % 74.1% 79.5%
NCU Leaders CU
Kuemper 33 Points 33 Hudson
Kuemper 12 Rebounds 8 Lanning
Baker,White 4 Assists 6 Allen
--------- 0 Blocks 1 Lanning
Byrd 4 Steals 3 Lanning
Beacon Men's Basketball
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Box Score

POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Fourth-seeded Cornerstone University (Mich.) pulled away in the second half and advanced to the round of 16 with an 84-68 victory over Northwest Christian University in the first round of the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship tournament in Keeter Gymnasium on Thursday afternoon.

The season comes to a close for the Beacons, who finish the year with an 18-14 record. Cornerstone (30-4) moves on to face Friends University (Kansas) who is now 26-6 after upsetting No. 13 seed Northwood (Fla.) in the first round.

In an opening half that saw 11 lead changes and nine ties, it took a Wes Hudson 3-point play in the final seconds to help the fourth-ranked Golden Eagles to a 35-32 lead at the break. Austin Kuemper and CU's Hudson each had 14 points in the first 20 minutes of play.

Cornerstone, winners of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles, carried the late momentum into the second half as they scored the first four points to up their lead to seven at 39-32.

After the Beacons had the lead down to four at 50-46 with 12:51 to play, Cornerstone used a 12-4 run highlighted by a pair of triples from seniors Anthony Allen and Hudson to go up by 12. The lead slowly grew over the next seven minutes of action and after a pair of free-throws from Hudson with 5:48 to play, CU had their largest lead of 14.

After a timeout by head coach Luke Jackson, the Beacons rattled off six in a row to bring the margin down to eight but the Golden Eagles connected on their foul shots (31-39 for the game) to avoid an upset on day two.

Jackson said, "Obviously, nobody wants to end their season this way. There were a lot of tears in the locker room, but there is no reason for them to hang their heads. They were part of something special this year and I am so unbelievably proud of those guys."

With the close of the campaign, NCU got a strong look into a bright future as sophomores Kuemper (pictured, left) and Javonte Byrd (pictured, right) combined to score 47 points on Thursday. Seniors Coleton Baker and Spencer Coleman were shut down by a strong Golden Eagle defense as the team's top two scorers were held to just nine shot attempts and seven points.

"For the younger guys, this tournament and this season were great learning experiences," said Jackson. "Austin is just scratching the surface of how good he can be and he has fallen in love with the game again. I can't wait to see what he will be able to help this team accomplish next year."

Hudson finished the day with 33 points, including an 18-for-19 afternoon at the free throw line as he crossed the 2000 point plateau for his career. Jake Plite added 13 points and Ben Lanning scored 12 points while leading the Golden Eagles with eight rebounds and three steals.

Kumper also scored 33 for the Beacons, adding 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season. Byrd was the only other Beacon in double figures, scoring 14 points with a game-high four steals. Travis Pacos added eight points while Baker finished with five points and four assists. The Beacons shot 41.5% from the field and were a respectable 74% at the free-throw line as they gave the 2011 NAIA champs a run for their money.
Cornerstone head coach Kim Elders said, "We did not know much about Northwest Christian but had heard they may be the most talented team from that conference, so it was a good to get a win and advance."

The book closes on the 2013-2014 season with three players each scoring over 500 points for NCU for the first time in school history. Kuemper scored 518 while seniors Coleman and Baker registered 523 and 519 points respectively. Coach Jackson said, "I am so proud of our seniors. Coleton and Spencer have been the heart and soul of the team this year and they gave everything they had. They are great competitors. You talk about a guy like Darrell Risen who goes to work every day. He doesn't get any recognition but he never complains. He's a team guy and you can't say enough about people like that."

Jackson ends his rookie year of collegiate coaching with 18 wins, taking a team that was picked to finish eighth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference all the way to the NAIA championships in Missouri. He said, "I don't think one guy in the locker room on the day I took over thought we would be at the national tournament, but we did it. Not very many teams can do that in a year and it is a testament to these kids. I love these guys and this season has been an amazing ride. The way we were playing at the end of the season was night-and-day from where we started and the foundation is being laid for great things to come."

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