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.
Recap of Yesterday’s Games of the Day:
Ave Maria 98 @ 23 Warner 93 OT (Full Recap)
Always love when our Games of the Day are barn burners and play out like we thought they might! There was a lot on the line in this one and it was Ave Maria who came up with the big plays in OT to get the huge Sun Conference road win over #23 Warner. The win brings Ave Maria within 1 game of Warner in The Sun Conference Standings. As we mentioned in our Five Players to Watch segment, Fernando Salsamendi is playing the like the conference Player of the Year. He once again has a big game finishing with 23pts, 6rebs and 4assts.
20 Tx A&M Texarkana 88 @ 19 LSU Alexandria 78 (Full Recap)
Texarkana goes into The Fort and comes away victorious. LSUA was coming off of a big win in The Fort against #2 LSU Shreveport. However, they couldn’t keep the momentum going against #20 Texarkana. Texarkana went up at the half and never trailed again in this one. The Red River now has a 3-way tie for 1st place with just a couple games to go. Kobe Powell had a big night for the Eagles as he finished with 28pts, 10rebs and 4assts in the win.
5 Arizona Christian 102 @ Ottawa (AZ) 70 (Full Recap)
Intrigue faded fast in this one as Arizona Christian completely overpowered Ottawa. Thought after Ottawa beat The Master’s a couple weeks back that they would make it close, but Arizona Christian is just too talented right now for this Ottawa team to contend with. De’Ron Kyle continues to play well as he finished with a game high 20pts.
Full Scoreboard:
Shout Outs:
– One of our favorites and one of the most underrated players in the country, Jaiden Bristol got his 500th career assist last night. He now has 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds to go along with those 500 career assists. Quite the career for the Benedictine PG!
– We mentioned it yesterday, but since they made a sweet graphic we will post again! Congrats to the Morningside Mustangs on their 4th straight GPAC Regular Season Title!
– Shout out to the River States League as they continue to grow the NAIA out East. Bringing back Ohio Valley to the NAIA from NCAA D2. That will give the River States 15 teams in the league and allow them to be a 3 bid league starting in the 2021-22 season.
– Christian Rodriguez continues to climb the Cornerstone career assist record ranks. He is now tied for 3rd in the storied history of Cornerstone hoops.
– With yesterday’s weather postponements it has added some more good games to today’s slate. A couple BIG games tonight for teams looking to stay in the hunt for a Conference Title!
