The No. 1 ranked Columbia Cougar men’s basketball team will look to head into the NAIA national tournament undefeated after advancing to the finals of the American Midwest Conference (AMC) postseason tournament on Saturday with a 97-56 victory over Williams Baptist (Ark.) College in the semifinal round of the American. With the win, Columbia (32-0) tied the school record for victories in a single season and also advances to the AMC tournament championship game for the second year in a row.
The top-seeded Cougars will host No. 2 seed Park (Mo.) University tonight in the AMC tournament championship game. The Pirates defeated No. 3 seed Missouri Baptist University 76-65 in Saturday’s other semifinal matchup. Columbia went 2-0 against Park during the regular season, including a 73-59 win at home back on January 5th and a 68-54 win at Park on February 2nd.
In the first meeting Park led by two with 13:49 to play in the first half, but over the next 20 minutes of play, Columbia extended their lead to as many as 19. In the second meeting, with the exception of two early ties, Columbia never trailed as the Cougars extended their win streak at that point in the season to 24-0.