The Bracket
Heart Tournament Schedule
Heart Quarterfinals | February 23
No. 8 Benedictine at No. 1 William Penn – WPU Wins – 90-88, OT
No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene at No. 4 Baker – Baker Wins – 94-88 2OT
No. 6 Central Methodist at No. 3 Evangel – Evangel Wins 87-84
No. 7 Graceland at No. 2 Peru State – Peru State Wins 78-56
Heart Semifinals | February 25
No. 4 Baker at No. 1 William Penn | 7 PM | Oskaloosa, Iowa
No. 3 Evangel at No. 2 Peru State | 4 PM | Peru, NE
Semifinal Breakdown
No. 4 Baker at No. 1 William Penn | 7 PM | Oskaloosa, Iowa LIVE VIDEO
The Heart Tourney, when brackets were set, seemed like a tourney where we could see some upsets. WPU and Baker both went to OT games in the QF’s but at the end of the day, the top seeds all advanced to the Heart Semis. Baker is the only Heart of America team to take down the Statesmen this season. They have the confidence and play making ability with Jalen Paterson and Quentin Harvey to pull off the upset again. It sounds like the flu bug was going around the WPU squad a bit earlier this week as their all-time wins leader, Eddie Daley put up a gutsy performance despite looking ill at times. Penn Gymnasium can get rocking when full.
No. 3 Evangel at No. 2 Peru State | 4 PM | Peru, NE LIVE VIDEO
Personally, we think Peru State is legit. This is a team, who fought some adversity early in the year as they lost their head coach a week prior to their first game. Roman Gentry took over the program and has the Bobcats playing some great basketball as they have now won 6 straight coming in. He had his interim tag removed last week, which was much deserved! Jibril Harris and Man Man Baker have been fun all season long. We have seen Lorenzo Anderson scoring ability since his days at Judson. The Bobcats also added in a D1 transfer, David Wingett Jr., at the break who has played tough as well. Evangel though has the Heart POY, Josh Pritchett. The Valor were red hot for much of the season, but kind of faltered a bit late. They have a tough road test today, but this is a well-coached group who is very capable of going in and taking this win!
