Vikings Outlast Crusaders in Overtime, 63-61

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Byron Cooke drove to the basket for the go-ahead field goal with 29.2 seconds remaining in overtime to lift Missouri Valley to a 63-61 win over Evangel to win the 2015 Heart of America Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament championship.

Missouri Valley (21-10) won its first-ever conference tournament championship and will make its first appearance in the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship since 1961.

Cooke was the hero for the Vikings for the second time in three postseason games, hitting a go-ahead jumper with 40 seconds remaining against MidAmerica Nazarene in the quarterfinals. James Lane missed a jumper with the Vikings trailing, 61-60, but the rebound tipped around to Raviel Burton. Cooke took a pass from Burton and drove untouched to the basket for a 62-61 lead.

Brodie Wingert got a three-point attempt from straightaway with 10 seconds to play, but saw his attempt miss the mark. Lane grabbed the rebound and hit one of two free throws on the other end.

Evangel pushed the ball into the frontcourt and had the ball kicked out of bounds with 2.2 seconds remaining, and were unable to get a shot off before time expired after inbounding the ball.

Missouri Valley was in control from the opening tip as Brad Hamilton had the hot hand early on. He scored five points in the opening minutes, then connected on back-to-back three-pointers to finish the first half with 14 points.

The Vikings defense picked up where it left off from the second half on Saturday night against Benedictine to take a 34-26 halftime lead. Missouri Valley forced 10 turnovers and held Evangel to 39.1 percent shooting (9 for 23) after limiting Benedictine to 8 of 25 shooting (.320) in the second half of the semifinal win.

Though its halftime lead was trimmed to one early on in the half, Missouri Valley stretched the lead back to nine midway through the half after back-to-back buckets by Jordan Bowling. Evangel chipped away at the deficit and forced overtime when Josh Veurink hit one of two free throws with 3.6 seconds left.

Brad Hamilton scored all 14 of his points in the first half, hitting 4 of 6 three-point shots to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Lane finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Korry Tillery tallied 16 points and 11 rebounds for Evangel (20-12), while Richard Chapman scored 11 points and Veurink finished with nine points and seven rebounds.

Both teams, along with Benedictine, will learn their first round opponents for the 32-team national championship tournament on Wednesday, March 11 with a video presentation on the NAIA Network (www.NAIANetwork.com) at 8:00 p.m. First round games will be played on March 18-19 at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City. Tickets are available for all sessions at naiahoops.com.