The Daily Dive is your deep dive into the news and notes from around the NAIA Hoops World. Every day we will highlight some of the top headlines, conference updates, player accolades, coaching milestones and more. This used to be our Morning Bullet Points series. We went away from it this year, as others were doing similar things and we didn’t want to step on any toes. At the request of many, we have elected to bring it back for the second half of the season. Feel free to DM us on Twitter (@NAIAHoopsReport) or send an email to naiahoopsreport@gmail.com to recommend stories to be included into this segment.
We enter the last BIG Saturday slate of the regular season! Conference seeding, conference tournament qualifying, national tournament auto-bids all at stake today! Usually it’s a bitter sweet day as we say good bye to a large grouping of Seniors. This year may be a little different as Seniors have the option to come back. For those careers who are coming to an end tomorrow, we wish you all the best of luck in whatever awaits you after you graduate. Thank you for choosing to play NAIA and God Bless!
Recap of Yesterday’s Games of the Day:
#24 William Jessup @ #5 Arizona Christian (Full Recap)
William Jessup went 4-24 from the 3pt line in this game and turned the ball over 18 times in yesterday’s loss. Tough to beat anyone with those numbers, let alone the #5 ranked team in the country on the road. De’Ron Kyle once again paced ACU with 15pts. The two teams will go at it again later today!
#18 Bethel (KS) 92 @ #3 William Penn 112 (Full Recap)
This was a pretty fun game as there was no shortage on points. While William Penn was able to keep Jaylon Scott to just 10 points, he did finish with a triple-double as he added in 14 rebounds and 13 assists. The Threshers also hit 17 3’s on 34 attempts, but it wasn’t enough as William Penn’s Kamari Newman paced 5 Statesmen in double figures with 21. In a battle of two of the best rebounding teams in the NAIA, William Penn also outrebounded Bethel 50-30 in the win.
#16 Loyola 73 @ #15 Stillman 74 (Full Recap)
As you can tell by the video above, this was an absolute great game down in the SSAC tonight! A 40 minute battle that saw Loyola take a 2 point lead with 4 seconds left, but Devin Merriweather called game as he hits the 3 at the buzzer and Stillman knocks off #15 Loyola.
Full Scoreboard:
Conference Tournament Preview:
– We posted our 1st NAIA Conference Tournament Review, as the Appalachian Athletic Conference tips off opening round action later today! Check it out:
– We will have more out on Sunday and into Monday as leagues finish up regular season play and brackets get posted!
Shout Outs:
– Shout out to Ashlyn Adkins on setting a new Faulkner Women’s basketball record with 251 made 3’s in her career!
– Shout Out again to Jaylon Scott for his Triple-Double last night. I am sure he would have preferred the win, but still a great feat!
– As we mentioned before, a lot at stake in today’s games! We will have the Schedule & Links article posted later this morning, so stay tuned!
– We will also be launching our Final NHR Top 25 poll on Sunday. Along with our newest bracketology report!
– Busy weekend ahead, but we always appreciate all of you for helping us to continue to be your best coverage of NAIA basketball!
