The No. 17-seed Cowboys rallied from 12 points down with 5:05 left to defeat No. 8 Daytona State Wednesday 66-65 in the quarterfinals of the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Men's Basketball Championship tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Connors advances to the semifinals for the second straight year and plays the winner of No. 4 South Plains and No. 12 Angelina at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

The second half started in the Cowboys favor and they scored the first five points of the half to tie the score at 30-30 with 18:17 left in the half. But the Falcons went on a run of their own, scoring seven straight to retake the lead 37-30.

Connors came right back and with 14:54 to go had completed a 7-0 spurt to tie the score at 37-37.

The see-saw then tilted in favor of the Falcons as they found their range from beyond the arc, hitting three 3s while dropping in two two-point buckets to get out to a 50-42 lead with 11:08 remaining in regulation.

At the 1:23 mark, Edwin Daniel hit a 3 and the deficit was cut to 65-62. And with 38.3 to go, Dormu nailed a 3 from the left win to tie the score at 65-65.

With 7.2 seconds left, Daniel was fouled and made one of two free throws. The second attempt bounced off the rim and Daniel grabbed the rebound and was fouled again with 5.9 left.

This time he missed both and Daytona, with no time outs, dribbled the length of the floor but missed the final shot as the Cowboys move on.

Daniel led the Cowboys with 17 points, while Dormu had 15 points and Aric Walls finished with 13 points. As a team, Connors shot 41.8% (23 of 55) from the field while Daytona State made 38.1% of its shots (24 of 63).