POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. - The Mayville State men's basketball program took another step Saturday.
That step was qualifying for the semifinal round of the NAIA Division II national tournament with an 82-81 victory over Cedarville of Ohio.
The Comets play 16th-ranked Northwest of Washington at 6 p.m. on Monday.
Mayville State forward Matt Stenehjem, a Grand Forks Red River High School graduate, scored off an offensive rebound with 2 minutes, 57 seconds left for an 82-79 lead.
Cedarville's Eric Leininger scored with 1:50 left to cut the lead to 82-81. Leininger's 3-point attempt with 10 seconds left misfired and Mayville State's Monty Rogers secured the rebound and the victory.
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Ron Howard led the Comets with a game-high 26 points. Rogers chipped in with 20 points for the Comets, who improved to 26-8. Tremel Gilot added 12 points.
Ricardo Alliman scored 16 points to lead Cedarville.
Mayville State is making its seventh appearance in the NAIA national tournament. The Comets lost in the quarterfinal round in 1998 and 2006. Mayville State had never made the semifinals.
The Comets, who have won nine games in a row, have made the national tournament all three seasons Craig Smith has been head coach.
The first half featured a series of lead changes. Cedarville was up 16-13 when the Comets strung together seven straight points for a 20-16 lead with 13:30 left in the half. They stretched the lead to 53-42 at the half.
Cedarville got within striking distance late. It cut the deficit to one point twice in the last two minutes.
Ricardo Alliman led Cedarville with 16 points and Guy Rathmell added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Cedarville was 9-for-32 on 3-point attempts.
