- Good Morning NAIA Hoops Nation!! Welcome to another round of your NAIA Morning Bullet Points. The Kansas/Kansas State game may not be a NAIA matchup, but a learning point nonetheless. There are a lot of emotions both from coaches and players over the course of a basketball game. The competitive drive within you takes over at times, and you get caught in the moment. However, it is important for you players, to remember to never make permanent decisions based off of short term feelings. That goes for both basketball, and in life! Control your immediate emotions, and never get caught in the moment where you risk losing everything.
- On to the game recaps from our circled games last night. There was only one NAIA DI game last night on the schedule, and it was the Sooner Athletic Conference matchup between Wayland Baptist and Oklahoma Panhandle State.
- Oklahoma Pan Handle St. 59 – RV Wayland Baptist 94
- Wayland jumped out early in this one, scoring the games first 12 points. They would build their first half lead up to 27 at one point, before OPSU cut it to 21 at half. The 2nd half was more of the same, as Wayland built up the lead to as high as 38 points. Tre Fillmore had a big night off the Wayland bench as he scored a game high 23 points. Game Recap|Box Score
- This game was also a big night for Coach Ty Harrelson as he got his 100th win. Congrats coach!
- The DII slate on the other hand was phenomenal! While the Crossroads League has battles every night, one of the BIGGEST games of the night happened in the River States Conference
- RV IU East 83 – #12 IU Kokomo 79
- This was such a great game. IU East came out blazing hot, as they hit their first SEVEN 3’s in the game to build a 9 point lead heading into halftime. IU East held a 68-56 lead with 8:50 to go, and held on for the win. With the win, they snapped IU Kokomo’s 23 game home win streak. Jehu Lafeuillee scored a game high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and All-American Bishop Smith added 21 points in the win. The Red Wolves are starting to get hot, and have now won 6 of their last 7 games. None bigger then last nights game though as they keep pace in the East with WVU Tech and vie for an automatic birth to the NAIA DII National Tournament. Game Recap|Box Scores
- #6 Mount Vernon Nazarene 66 – #11 Bethel (IN) 100
- The Crossroads League always provides great matchups. However MVNU got cold in the 2nd half, and TreVion Crews and company kept it rolling as he scored a game high 32 points in this game as The Pilots ran way with this one in the 2nd half. Bethel will now host #2 Indiana Wesleyan on Saturday in a matchup between the two best players in the Crossroads League in Crews and Kyle Mangas. Game Recap|Box Score
- #2 Indiana Wesleyan 87 – #18 Grace (IN) 85
- Grace nearly had the win in this one, but a missed FT to keep the lead at 2, allowed Kyle Mangas to do Kyle Mangas type things, AGAIN!! I am not sure how many game winners this kid has had over his great career, but it seems like every time they need one from him, he delivers. This game was just great from start to finish, and losing on a last second shot, after a miss FT will make you sick to your stomach, but this Grace team is tough, and keep battling. Life doesn’t get much easier in the Crossroads League though, as they will look to end their 3 game slide on Saturday when they host #8 Marian. Game Recap|Box Score
- Speaking of one of the nations best, Talon Pinckney has had one heck of a career at College of Idaho.
- Your NAIA National Players of the week were released yesterday! Congrats to both Densier Carnes of John Brown, and Mark Gordon of Keiser on their weekly awards!
