By Matt Bos, NAIA Media Coordinator

POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – (Box Score)- Cornerstone saw a double-digit lead trimmed to just five at the break but outscored St. Thomas (Fla.) 46-35 in the second to post a 74-58 win over the Bobcats to advance to Friday's Second Round of the NAIA DII Men's Basketball National Championship.

CU got 26 points from Kyle Steigenga as they improve to 29-5 on the year. The Golden Eagles will play at 9:30 a.m. EST against either Indiana East or #14 Concordia (Ore.).

After an early 2-0 lead by the Bobcats, it was all Cornerstone as they scored the game's next eight points which all came from different players. STU did manage to keep the score within 2-4 points but 9-0 spurt highlighted by a three-pointer from Cory Cox and lay-in from Justin Pepper upped the CU lead to 21-10 with 6:50 to play. The Bobcats did not back down however as they outscored Cornerstone 13-7 to finish the half down 28-23.

St. Thomas then opened the second half with a jumper but the next possession saw a Kyle Steigenga dunk ignite the CU offense as they slowly built on their lead and had it to as many as 21 with 11:20 to play after a Steigenga layup on a feed from Michael McLaughlin. The lead never got under 14 for the remainder of the game as CU won by 16.

"They create so much pressure and get up in your shorts like not many teams can do," said Cornerstone head coach Kim Elders. "It bothered us at first but we made some adjustments in the second half to get into more rhythm on offense."

Cornerstone's Kyle Steigenga led all scorers with 26 in his national championship debut while St. Thomas was led by 17 from Mikon Hewitt.

"It is always nice to get that first win because nobody wants to go home after their first game," said Elders. "Now we get a day off, which I really like, and it will give the coaches time to scout our next opponent".

CU finished the game shooting .450 from the field as they connected on 27 of their 60 attempts while the Bobcats struggled to just .306 (22-72).