The Heart of America Conference Tournament – Semifinals Preview

2021 Heart Tournament Bracket

Quarterfinals

February 25th

S3 Baker @ N2 Mount Mercy 4pm CT Live Video

N4 Grandview @ S1 Benedictine 6pm CT Live Video

S4 MidAmerica Nazarene @ N1 William Penn 7pm CT Live Video

N3 Clarke @ S2 Park 7pm CT Live Video

Semifinals

February 25th

N2 Mount Mercy @ S1 Benedictine 2pm CT Live Video

S2 Park @ N1 William Penn 7pm CT Live Video

Finals

February 27th

League Notes:

The top seed: #2 William Penn
NAIA Locks: William Penn, Benedictine
NAIA Bubble Teams: Park
Best chances to win this tournament: William Penn, Benedictine

Possible sleeper: Baker – eliminated

KEY PLAYERS:

Kevion Blaylock – William Penn: 17.6ppg, 10.2rpg

– 15pts, 10rebs in opening round win over MidAmerica Nazarene.

Dennis McKinney – Mount Mercy: 14.1ppg, 3.2rpg, 3.2apg

– 23pts, 9rebs, 3assts in opening round win over Baker.

Rodrique Marthone – Park: 19.1ppg, 6.6rpg, 4.4apg, 2.2spg

– 15pts, 4rebs, 3assts in opening round win over Clarke.

Kamari Newman – William Penn: 14.4ppg, 3.4rpg,

– 13pts, 3rebs in win over MidAmerica Nazarene.

KEY TEAMS:

N1 William Penn – Won 98-68 over MidAmerica Nazarene in the 1st round. The Statesmen had six guys in double-figures, with not one player over 15pts.

S1 Benedictine – Won 99-75 over Grandview in the opening round. Eric Krus paced six Ravens in double-figures with 24pts. He added in 7 rebounds as well.

UPSET SPECIAL:

S3 Baker – Lost to Mount Mercy in Opening Round

Semifinal Game Notes:

N2 Mount Mercy @ S1 Benedictine 2pm CT Live Video

Benedictine 1-0

The Mercy trio of Basala, McKinney and Webb have been hot as of late, but going to Benedictine and getting a win is really tough. BC will look to counter that Mount Mercy trio with their own trio of Bristol, Austin and Krus. These two just met two weeks ago with BC winning by 14pts.

S2 Park @ N1 William Penn 7pm CT Live Video

William Penn 1-0

Park may be the most talented team in the league not named William Penn. The regular season game got a bit chippy between the two teams. Rodrique Marthone has been special for Park, while All-American Cory Reeves will look to help put Park into the National Tournament. William Penn is deep and loaded with talent as the put SEVEN players on the All-Conference list.

OTHER NOTES:

The Heart Championship Central Page

The Heart has (2) auto-bids plus the Host Site bid, getting 3 teams into the NAIA National Tournament. William Penn clinched the regular season title auto-bid. Benedictine will get the Tournament auto-bid if WPU or them win the Heart tourney. Host site bid is TBD.

Best Semifinal Matchup: S2 Park@ N1 William Penn.

Our Pick To Win It: William Penn University – We have seen some upsets already around the country, but this William Penn team is deep, talented, shares the basketball and is better defensively then people may think. Plus they are at home where only one team has gotten within 20pts of them this season.