Bullock Sparks Win

HUTCHINSON, Kan. -- While Southern Union hasn't been able to get over the quarterfinal round jinx at Hutch, the Bison did clear a major hurdle on Friday at the NJCAA Tournament: they advanced to championship Saturday.

Southern Union jumped out to a 25 point first half lead, then staved off a furious second half rally by Itawamba to claim a 91-78 victory over the Indians. The victory earned the Bison a slot in Saturday's fifth place game against Moberly, which tips at 2:45 p.m. C.S.T.

Freshman forward Marvin Moore was dominant for Southern Union, scoring 40 points and grabbing six rebounds. He scored 21 of those points in the first half as the Bison opened up a 41-16 lead.

Itawamba closed the first half with a 13-6 run to narrow the deficit to 47-29 at the half, and built on that momentum throughout the second half behind the gutty play of sophomore off guard Jason Pannel.

Pannel scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half as the Indians sliced the deficit to 77-72 with 4:37 to play. Fittingly, it was a three pointer by Pannel that capped the frantic rally, but the Indians could get no closer the rest of the way.

A quick 7-0 run, punctuated by an Earl Bullock three pointer, pushed the Southern Union lead to 84-72 with 3:50 to play put the game out of Itawamba's reach.

Bullock, a 6-1 sophomore off guard being looked at this spring by Tennessee-Martin, Duquesne and Southern University (La.), connected on four of eight three point attempts on the way to 18 points. Bobby Madison, SU's solid 6-6 sophomore forward, added 12 points and five rebounds in the win. Madison, brother of Kei, has made a commitment to Western Michigan.

In addition to Pannel's fine performance (which included 16 of 23 free throws), Itawamba got valuable contributions from sophomore small forward Trent Vaughn (18 points) and husky 6-6 sophomore big man Shun Jenkins (14 points, seven rebounds).

Jenkins suited up despite suffering a shoulder injury the night before. He struggled mightily from the free throw line, converting just four of 14 attempts from the stripe.