Master’s Remembers at the End : College basketball: Mustangs fall to Georgia Southwestern, 98-86, in school’s first NAIA tournament, ending Oates’ first year as coach.

In the end, it was hard to remember the good things.

It was hard to remember that The Master’s College won 28 games in Bill Oates’ first season coaching at the school.

It was hard to remember that this season marked the first National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics tournament appearance for Master’s.

And it was hard to remember exactly what went wrong during a 98-86 loss to Georgia Southwestern in the first round of the NAIA basketball tournament Tuesday at Oral Roberts University.

“We just never got in sync,” Master’s center Emeka Okenwa said.

That sentiment was echoed across the locker room. Generally, the Mustangs did not play well. Much of that had to do with the exceptional play of Georgia Southwestern guards Dwayne Harper, Marcus Jackson and Eric Taylor.

Master’s guard Andy Thompson had the difficult dual task of guarding Harper and penetrating Southwestern’s press.

“I don’t think I played well at all,” said Thompson, who fouled out with nearly four minutes remaining.

“I think the team as a whole didn’t play our style, and that’s my fault because I’m the point guard. That’s very disappointing.”

Georgia Southwestern didn’t trail and twice led by 10 points before Mike Penberthy’s eight points, two steals and two assists cut the lead to 30-29 with just under six minutes to play in the first half.

But a technical foul on Thompson helped spark a 21-8 run by Georgia Southwestern that made the score 51-37 at halftime.

“That really hurt us--that was a six-point turnaround,” Oates said.

When Thompson was caught reaching in on Jackson, Thompson grimaced and was whistled for a technical, although it appeared he didn’t say anything or try to show up the official.

“I think that was the first ‘T’ of my life,” Thompson said. “I was just walking away from the play, like I always do, and (the referee) said I got in his face.”

In the second half, the Mustangs nibbled away at Georgia Southwestern’s lead and trailed, 61-58, six minutes after intermission.

“Every time we got close, they would give the ball to No. 12, and he was on his game,” Thompson said.

No. 12 was Harper, who scored 35 points. Master’s, which played man-to-man defense throughout, could not stop his quick drives or his pull-up jump shots.

“We tried to put a lot of people on him to get fresh legs to guard him,” Oates said. “He just dribbled around us, shot over us, or just put it in from everywhere.”

Harper was surprised to find himself guarded one-on-one so often and took advantage of it. Taylor added 28 points.

Okenwa scored 27 for Master’s, followed by James Mosley (21), Penberthy (17) and Thompson (11). Master’s finished the season with a 28-5 record, best in the school’s history.

Georgia Southwestern (24-9), which has three times greater enrollment than Master’s (850), will play the winner of today’s game between Mobile, Ala., and Midwestern State, Tex., in the second round.

“Certainly it doesn’t feel good to come all this way to lose in the first round,” Thompson said.

“But you know what? We had a great season. I never thought I would get to play on a team that was this good and go to a tournament like this. I feel blessed to be on this team.”

It was hard, but he remembered.