The Westminster men's basketball team might have won the Frontier Conference championship, but Rocky Mountain College has outlasted them in the postseason.
The No. 21 Bears (26-9) defeated 12-seed Concordia (28-7) in the quarterfinals of the NAIA national tournament Saturday in Kansas City, Mo., and will now head to the semifinal round.
They'll face off with Robert Morris (27-3) of Illinois on Monday at 5:50 p.m.
The last Frontier team to make it to the NAIA's "Fab Four" was the Carroll College Saints in 2004. They were one spot from making the tournament this year as Rocky, Westminster and MSU-Northern all received bids.
Northern was the first to drop out of the tournament, losing in the first round to Robert Morris 78-76 in overtime, and No. 6 Westminster (30-5) became the latest victim, losing 50-47 to Columbia (29-7) of Missouri on Saturday.
The Frontier's second-place team, however, held strong, erasing an 11-point deficit, 37-26, at the half.
Senior post Devin Uskoki led Rocky with 20 points of 9-of-10 shooting and collected 16 rebounds.
Chase Sukut added 17 points and Nate Richardson 11.
Kingsley Costain led Concordia with 26 points off 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc.
Westminster's Danny Stosich led his squad with 18 points and seven rebounds, but the Griffins just couldn't make enough of a run after trailing 22-21 at the half.
Geoff Payne added 13 points and seven rebounds while Columbia's Jason Ellis and Brett Hoskins led their squad with 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Posted in Sports on Saturday, March 21, 2009 11:00 pm
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