MO State HS Sports

Cougars End Season with Loss to No. 18 Morningside

Allen drives to hoop in a win at UHSP

Wichita, Kan. – No. 13 seed Columbia College men’s basketball team had its season come to an end with an 81-77 loss to No. 4 seed and 18th-ranked Morningside University (Iowa) in NAIA First Round play Monday at Friends University’s Garvey Physical Education Center.
 
Morningside improved to 23-7 with the win, while Columbia had its five-game win streak snapped and dropped to 23-9. Morningside takes on the winner of No. 5 seed Kansas Wesleyan and No. 12 seed IU Kokomo in the second round on Wednesday, March 8 at 3 p.m.
 
Tony Burks led Columbia with 21 points, while Collin Parker (18) and Marlon Allen (16 points, 12 rebounds) also scored in double figures for the Cougars. The double-double for Allen was his fourth of the season. The Cougars shot 44.8 percent (30-67) from the field in the loss and outrebounded Morningside 41-27.
 
Morningside jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the opening three minutes of the contest, but the Cougars battled back and took its first lead (12-11) on a bucket by Carson Parker.  The bucket by Parker was part of a 9-0 run as the Cougars jumped out to a 17-11 lead. Columbia forced four turnovers during the run, including three-straight at one point.
 
The Cougars hit three of their first four shots from beyond the arc, and a triple from Trendon Tisdale gave Columbia its largest lead of the game at 25-17. Morningside got back into the game with a pair of threes to highlight a 9-0 run to tie the score at 33-33 with 5:05 to play.
 
Morningside ended the half with an 11-2 run to take a 44-37 lead. Burks had 11 points to lead Columbia, who shot 41.7 percent (15-36) from the field. The Mustangs shot 53.6 percent (15-28) from the field and hit 9-of-9 from the free-throw line.
 
Morningside took its first double-digit lead of the game (54-44) on a bucket by Ely Doble, but the Cougars answered back with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 56-56 with 10:18 left. Parker had six of the 12 points for Columbia. 
 
The Mustangs scored nine-straight points to take a commanding 65-56 lead with 7:08 to play and force a Columbia timeout.
 
Aidan Vanderloo (22 points), Doble (19), Joey Skoff (12) and Trey Powers (10) scored in double figures for Morningside, who shot 51.9 percent (28-54) from the field and hit 16-of-20 from the free-throw line.
 
NOTES: The teams met for the first time in school history … The Cougars made their first NAIA National Tournament appearance since 2018 … Columbia is 13-23 all-time in the NAIA Tournament … Burks scored 20 or more points for the 14th time this season.

This article is provided by Columbia Cougar Athletics