COUTCHIE'S 29 POINTS NOT ENOUGH TO DEFEAT PARK

Box

November 29, 2003

Kansas City, Mo. . After taking a four-point lead into halftime, the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats (2-3) could not hold off NAIA Park University as the Pirates went on to score 36 points in the second half for a five-point win, 66-61. Senior David Coutchie led all scorers with 29 points, just two points shy of his career high.

Park University took advantage of SBU's slow first half start as they took an eight-point lead, 11-3, in the first five minutes of the game. The Bearcats responded with a 20-9 run to take a three-point lead, 23-20, with 6:30 left in the half. Of those 20 points scored, Coutchie and Cedric Ousley combined for 17 of them. In the run, Ousley hit three three-pointers while Coutchie hit two. Coutchie extended the lead to five points, 31-26, on another three pointer with 2:12 left in the half. He then nailed his fifth three-pointer of the half with 00:17 left to give SBU the four-point lead. Coutchie took 19 points to the locker room at halftime and had hit five-of-six three point shots.

The first five minutes of the second half went back and forth as both teams exchanged the lead three different times. It was at the 14:08 mark that PU took the lead for good, 44-42, as they slowly crept away. By the 9:57 mark, they were up by six points, 52-46. SBU had cut the lead to two, twice, but could not seem to overtake PU's lead. PU had as big as a nine-point lead in the last five minutes. SBU did cut the lead to three with only 00:46 left to play and had a chance to tie the game, but did not convert.

SBU ended up shooting 44% from the floor, 50% from the three-point line, and 57% from the free throw line. They were once again outrebounded badly, 41-28, with only three offensive rebounds. They also turned the ball over 21 times to PU's 13.

The Bearcats will be back in action on Tuesday, December 2nd, when they travel to Springfield to take on Drury University. Gametime is at 7 p.m.