March 13, 2006

No. 4 seed College of the Ozarks (Mo.) advanced to its second title game with a convincing 88-69 win over #8 Lindenwood University (Mo.) in the semifinals of the 15th Annual NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship. The 2006 event is being held at the Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of College of the Ozarks (Mo.).

In the first half, College of the Ozarks used a 23-4 run over an eight minute span to stretch a one-point lead to 20, but Lindenwood scored the last seven points of the first half to go into the lockerroom down, 45-32. During their run, the Bobcats hit seven-straight three pointers, including five in a row by Corey Stone, who had 15 first half points. Teammate Heath Sitton led all scorers with 16 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Lions had three different players with six points at the break. The Bobcats led by as many as 30 in the second half and, though Lindenwood was able to trim the deficit to 19, the hosts had too much firepower and too much crowd support to be overcome.

Sitton finished with a game high 25 points on 11 of 19 shooting from the field. Michael Bonaparte added 21 points on 10 of 16 shooting, as the Bobcats hit 52% of their shots from the floor and converted 9 of 22 from long range. Stone rounded out the double figure scorers for Ozarks with 17 points. Ozarks, making its 10th tournament appearance, is in its second championship game. They lost in 2000 to Embry-Riddle (Fla.).

Johnny Viehland led the Lions with 18 points, nine rebounds, and three blocked shots. Matt Foster (12 points) and Ryan Brown (10 points) were the only other Lions in double figures. Lindenwood, making its second tournament appearance, finishes the season with a record of 26-10.

College of the Ozarks (28-6) will battle for the championship with #2 Huntington University (Ind.) (32-5), Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. Central. Huntington earned a 78-68 win over unseeded MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.), (25-11) in Monday's other semifinal.

The game will be televised live nationwide by College Sports Television (CSTV). CSTV is available to approximately 65 million homes nationally on cable and satellite. The network is available on Adelphia, Charter, Comcast, Cox, and Time Warner cable systems and is also available on DirecTV. For information on CSTV availability in particular markets, consumers can log on to www.cstv.com or call their cable or satellite operator.

Box Score