- Good morning NAIA Hoops Nation!! Wasn’t a very exciting night last night, so not sure what we are going to write about today, but we will do our best!!
- In case you missed it, JJ Culver of Wayland Baptist (TX) scored 100 points last night in their 124-60 win over Southwest Adventist. JJ is a Religion Major, who is a great kid! He was already in the running for NAIA DI Player of the Year, and was leading the country in scoring. I would imagine last night locked up the scoring crown for him. One thing is for sure, it brought a lot of attention to NAIA basketball. There are plenty of articles out there, like ESPN’s converge HERE. Or some of the other outlets like Nathan Giese, of the local Plainview Herald, HERE and Len Haward’s piece that got picked up by the US Today HERE.
- We did have an NAIA beat a NCAA D2 program last night as well. Point Park (PA) beat Salem (WV) in 2OT’s 102-99. It was a gutsy performance by Point Park. Congrats on the win!!
- As always, we do recaps on all of the games we had circled from the night before. Games get circled for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s a player matchup we like, other times it is a game we think could be a great game, and sometimes it’s as simple as we think one team is really, really good, and fun to watch.
- Shawnee State (OH) 68 – Rio Grande (OH) 58
- Shawnee used a 20-9 run at the end of the 1st Half to take a 28-24 lead into the break. It was just a 3 point game with a little over 7 minutes left in the game, but Shawnee made plays when they needed to down the stretch for the win. Desmond Crosby scored a career high 18 points in the win. You can read more HERE . Box Score
- William Woods (MO) 70 – College of the Ozarks (MO) 59
- A nice 70-59 road win for the Owls last night. They jumped out to an early double digit lead, but College of the Ozarks battled back to make it a 38-35 Owls lead at halftime. The 2nd half remained close, and the Owls used a 13-4 run at end of the game to get the win. Andrew Nett led William Woods with a game high 17 points in the win. Full Story. Box Score
- Grandview (IA) 71 – Briar Cliff (IA) 86
- Florida National 99 – Keiser (FL) 101
- This was one of the more fun games of the night. Florida National came out blistering hot, and sharp shooter Kenneth Santos hit 8 first half 3’s to carry Florida National to a 17 point half time lead. Keiser, however, came out of half time on a terror to get back in the game. The game went back and forth over the last few minutes, before Keiser was able to take the lead late and hold on for their 9th straight win. Mark Gordon proved why he is one of the top scorers in NAIA DII, as he dropped 34 points in the win. Full Story. Box Score
- Congratulations to the NAIA Player of the Week winners, both have been great so far this season!
- The official NAIA Top 25 rankings will be out later today. Be sure to check out ours as well. NAIA DI Top 25. NAIA DII Top 25
