Box Score KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It's a good thing De'End Parker has a mini-goatee growing for the NAIA National Championship.

He and CSUSM just escaped by the hairs of his chinny-chin-chin.

Leading by three with just moments remaining, Parker fouled Culver-Stockton's CJ Adams on Adams' 3-point attempt with .06 seconds remaining. He made the first attempt at the charity stripe, but his second attempt missed short and to the right.

Adams made his third try, which ended up being the last point of the game.

Cougars 92, Wildcats 91.

The No. 1 seed Cal State San Marcos men's basketball team (32-1) advances to the Final Eight where it will face No. 8 seed Emmanuel (Mo.) (31-3) on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. PT (10:30 a.m. CT). CSUSM has won 23 straight games.

"We did some dumb stuff down the stretch," said CSUSM head coach Jim Saia. "We ran a play and turned it over twice and then we didn't run the clock out the way we should. On the other hand, we made some good plays today. That was a heck of a team out there. Culver-Stockton is as good as team in the country. They come from a great conference."

Jason Johnson's left-handed runner made it 85-74 in favor of the Cougars and it appeared as though the team would be able to salt away the victory for the final 5:11.

However, the Cougars turned the ball over three straight trips down the court and CSC pulled within three after an 8-0 run.

Johnson answered with a pop-up 3-pointer to push the lead back to six, but a pair of free throws and a tough, fall-away 3-pointer by James Johnson pulled CSC within 88-87 with 2:48 remaining.

Bobby Macias drew a foul and sunk both free throws before picking the ball from the pocket of Mario Gulley. He drained two more charity shots to put CSUSM up 92-87 at the 2:07 mark.

Despite not scoring a basket the rest of the way, the Cougars held on and advanced.

"We never look back as the previous play, despite how bad they were. We try and stay focused on staying in the moment. You can't think about losing and your career being over," said Macias. "I know I can make those free throws and I was happy to be put in that spot where I could control my own and my team's destiny."

CSC (24-8) led by as many as seven on four occasions in the first half, but the Cougars used an 18-5 stretch to close out the final 7:12 of the opening stanza. It proved pivotal for the Cougars as they never gave up the lead in the second half.

Parker scored 20 points for the second straight game, while Johnson added 17 points. Zack Zaragoza tallied 12 points and five rebounds, Quincy Lawson had 11 and Malcolm Lemmons recorded 10.

The Cougars owned a 31-15 edge in points off the bench and shot 49.3 percent from the floor (35-of-71).

For Saia, it is his first time leading a team to the NAIA quarterfinals. As an assistant, Saia helped lead UCLA to the 1997 Elite Eight, where the Bruins fell to Minnesota.

Emmanuel topped Cumberlands (Ky.) 73-51 in the morning session to qualify for the Final Eight.