- Good Morning NAIA Hoops Nation! The official NAIA polls come out today. After seeing the conference ratings, I don’t expect anything too crazy with either poll. We did have some good action last night, but usually the ratings are done in advance to last nights action, and thus shouldn’t have any affect on these polls.
- There wasn’t a lot of action last night, but there were still some big games nonetheless. Here are the game recaps from our “circled” games.
- DI Recap
- Southwestern Christian 65 – Oklahoma City 85
- Trae Bryant being back for this Oklahoma City team gives them some added fire power as they move into the heart of Sooner Athletic Conference play. He hit seven 3’s last night on his way to a 23 point showing. Bryant, a Sooner Athletic Conference All-Tournament team member from a year ago, is averaging 16ppg since returning at semester. Rashaun Coleman also reached 20 points in the win. Game Recap|Box Score
- DII Recaps
- 2 Oregon Tech @ 18 Southern Oregon – Game was postponed due to weather. It will be played today!
- 8 Marian 99 – 9 Bethel (IN) 74
- What an impressive road showing by Marian. After a slow start to two potent offensive teams, the Knights found their grove in the 1st half with 8 minutes to go, and up 19-18. That is when they used a 29-12 run to end the half, to go up 46-30. Marian continued to look impressive throughout the 2nd half as well, as they once again outscored Bethel 53-44 in the 2nd stanza for a 99-74 win. This was a big road win as it keeps them just 1 game out of 1st place in the Crossroads League. Game Recap|Box Score
- #17 Saint Francis (IN) 81 – #4 Mount Vernon Nazarene 72
- Speaking of big road wins, Saint Francis went on the road and gave MVNU their first home loss of the season. Saint Francis actually controlled this game for almost the entire 40 minutes. They were able to take an early 13-12 lead, and never trailed for the rest of the game. A big part of that was due to Austin Compton coming off the bench to score 21 points. He also grabbed 6 rebounds. Antwaan Cushingbery led the starters with 15 points. Game Recap|Box Score
- IU Southeast 61 – #13 IU Kokomo 62
- What a thriller we had out in the River States Conference as IU Kokomo was able to capitalize on a fouled 3 point attempt with .8 seconds left that saw Trequan Spivey hit 2 of the 3 FT’s to take the 62-61 lead. Akil McClain led the way for the Cougars as he had a game high 23 points. David Burton had 21 points and 12 rebounds for IU Southeast. The win made it 27 straight at home for IU Kokomo. Game Recap|Box Score
- It was cool for us to see the NAIA DI and DII Player of the Week winners, because each of them were featured in our NAIA Player Spotlight series earlier this year.
- NAIA DI National Player of the Week: Nykolas Mason, SAGU. Be sure to read our NAIA Player Spotlight on his great story!
- Fresh off of breaking his own NAIA DII scoring record, with 74 points in a game, Justin Martin of Multnomah was named the NAIA DII National Player of the Week. Be sure to read our NAIA Player Spotlight piece on his from before the season.
- There is also a great story in the Chicago Tribune about Bethel (IN) guard Grant Gelon. Grant started off at Indiana, and was actually taking a break from basketball for a bit, before his long journey brought him to Bethel. It’s worth the read!
- We have a busier day with games today, and as always, we will do our best to keep everyone updated!
