Concordia Falls Short at Buzzer

Concordia’s improbable run in the Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament ended when Rick Haywood’s running eight-footer bounced off the front of the rim in the final seconds of a 73-71 loss to Azusa Pacific Tuesday at Whittier College.

Top-seeded Azusa Pacific had taken a two-point lead on two free throws by Bryan Lucas with 3.3 seconds left, but Concordia was stubborn to the end.

The Eagles got the ball into the front court when an Azusa Pacific player tipped a long pass out of bounds. No time elapsed. After a Concordia time out to draw up the play, Haywood got the ball above the three-point arc and drove toward the basket, jumped off one leg and launched the shot.

“He makes that shot in his sleep,” Concordia Coach Greg Marshall said. “I saw overtime when he released it.”

Instead it was a tantalizingly close miss that meant the end of the season for the Eagles (15-17), a team that only started playing to its potential in the postseason. Azusa Pacific (28-7) won the automatic bid to the NAIA Division I tournament next week in Tulsa.

Biola, the team Concordia beat in the semifinals Saturday, is ranked ninth and also will receive a bid.

Concordia will stay home, a fact that was hard to swallow for the Eagles. Early in the game, it seemed they were on track for another upset. Concordia made eight of its first nine shots and led, 16-6, with 14 minutes 35 seconds left in the first half. But Azusa battled and trailed by only one, 32-31, at the half despite being outshot 58.3% to 40% from the field.

The game couldn’t have been tighter in the second half--in the first 11 minutes the lead changed hands 17 times. Azusa finally pulled away for one five-point and one seven-point lead, but the Eagles wouldn’t back down.

They tied it at 67-67 on an inside shot by Akrum Alrahib with 3:30 left and tied it twice more on shots by Jaime Jaquez and Greg O’Hagan.

O’Hagan was fouled in his shot, a scoop layup, but missed the free throw with 56 seconds left. Azusa’s Trent Jackson missed a three-pointer but the Cougars got the rebound with 28 seconds left, 25 on the shot clock.

Jackson missed another three-pointer but Lucas pulled down the rebound and was fouled by Concordia’s Kalim Scott. Lucasmade both free throws.