News for Immediate Release
Contact: Amber Cox, AMC Director of Information
573/ 441-8685 (Phone & Fax)

Columbia College Secures Post-Season Tournament Title

Columbia, Mo. - The Columbia College men's basketball team seized an automatic berth to the NAIA Division I National Tournament last night, defeating Missouri Baptist College in the championship game of the American Midwest Conference post-season tournament. Columbia, the #2 seed in the tournament, knocked off the #4 seed, Missouri Baptist, 73-59. The Cougars will compete in the national tournament on March 16-22 at the Donald Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla.

In a vote by league coaches, Tony Lara, a center for the McKendree College Bearcats, has been chosen as the 1998-99 American Midwest Conference (AMC) Most Valuable Player for men's basketball. The 6-6 senior from Chicago, Ill. totaled 545 points and 238 rebounds in 29 games during the regular-season, averaging 18.8 points and 8.2 boards per outing. Lara provided a consistent punch in McKendree's offensive attack, shooting 64 percent from the field and connecting on 71 percent of his attempts from the foul line. He helped the Bearcats to a regular-season AMC title, leading the team to an 8-2 finish in conference play.

Donald Bell, a 5-9 guard for the Hannibal-LaGrange College Trojans, is the 1998-99 AMC Freshman of the Year. Bell, a native of Tyler, Texas, averaged 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in his first season at Hannibal-LaGrange. In addition, the rookie led his team in assists, averaging 3.7 per contest.

The AMC Newcomer of the Year honor is presented to the top transfer student-athlete in the AMC. Lawrence Thomas, a 6-5 forward for the Columbia College Cougars, is the 1998-99 recipient of this award. Thomas, who resides in Dallas, Texas, was an immediate force for the Cougars this season. In regular-season competition, Thomas averaged 14.9 points per game and shot 55 percent from the field. In his first season as a Cougar, Thomas cleared seven rebounds and passed out two assists a contest.

The 1998-99 AMC Coach of the Year for men's basketball is Bob Burchard from Columbia College. Burchard, in his 11^th season as head coach at Columbia, led the Cougars to a regular-season record of 20-7 and a second place finish in AMC regular-season play. Since his arrival to Columbia College in 1988, Burchard has compiled a 252-96 (.724) record to become the winningest coach in Cougar basketball history. This is Burchard's fifth selection as the AMC's Coach of the Year.

A complete list of the 10-member AMC All-Conference team, the Honorable Mention squad and the Academic All-Conference team, is included on the following pages. Members of the Academic All-Conference team have earned at least a 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.

Hannibal-LaGrange College
Josh Buffington, Dustin Fulton, Roman Moravec

Harris-Stowe State College
Andrew Clark, Justin Davis, Jan Pavlicek

McKendree College
Dan Moore, Jeff Thayer, Joe Semith

Missouri Baptist College
Cliff Beale, Michal Gabani, John Pratt, Josh Sykes, David Herod, Steve Moss

Park College
Larry Parker, Jamal James, Anson Taitt