Our Daily Dive series is your daily rundown of what is happening around NAIA basketball. We feature game breakdowns, updates on players, coaches teams and leagues for both men’s and women’s basketball.
– The first Men’s and Women’s official Top 25 Coaches Polls were released yesterday. If you missed them, you can find them here:
– While we aren’t comfortable enough to do a Women’s Top 25 Poll quite yet. If you want to compare our Men’s “Media Poll” here is what we had out prior to the official coaches poll release:
– Jumping right in to our Games of the Day Recaps. Neither game was relatively close as both of the favorites went on the road and took care of business.
- #25 IU South Bend beat IU East 91-64. The Titans placed seven guys in double figures in a well balanced attack led by 13pts from Mile Tracy. Both teams battled early and IUSB found themselves down five with 13min left in the 1st half. They would end the half on a 30-9 run to take control of the game. They would only extend their lead in the 2nd half on their way to a nice road win.
- #18 Benedictine (KS) traveled to Lincoln (IL) last night and came away with the 81-62 win. The Ravens jumped out early, only to see their lead go away before hitting a 3 late in the 1st half to take a 38-36 lead into the break. The Ravens though, just don’t ever hurt themselves and wore down this Lynx team on the way to the win. The Ravens got 22pts, 4rebs, 5assts from Jaiden Bristol.
– Other notable games:
- Tennessee Wesleyan got a nice 83-78 OT road win last night against Mobile. Road wins are always nice, but non-conference road wins go along ways in helping boost your league up. In the win, it was Ty Patterson who led the Bulldogs with 20pts. Mobile’s Logan Foutz went 4-8 from 3 on his way to a game high 23pts.
- Bethel (IN) went on the road and defeated Governors State (IL) 80-72. As you can see, it was a great day for road teams in the NAIA. Bethel started the post Trevion Crews era last night by placing four guys in double figures, led by 18pts, 6assts from Zac Owens. Nathan Aerts contributed 17pts, 10rebs for the Pilots as well. Payton Harley had a double-double for Governors State with 16pts, 11rebs.
- Iowa Wesleyan welcomed themselves back to the NAIA with their first win in a 73-62 win over Waldorf. Jett Tjaden went 5-6 from deep to lead the way with 18pts. Tyree’on Johnson (Waldorf) had a 14pt, 11reb double-double in the loss.
- It was a 117-58 blow out win for #2 St Francis (IN), but Antwaan Cushingberry started off the season like he ended the last one, chipping in a game high 30pts while knocking down 5 trifectas. Dan McKeeman hit 8 3’s himself on his way to a 24pt night.
– Notable Women’s Games and Performances:
- #14 Indiana Tech went on the road to defeat Huntington (IN) 61-50. They were led by Emma Tuominen’s 16pt, 11reb double-double.
- RV Providence (MT) defeated Arizona Christian 80-68. Providence put five players in double figures and were led by a really impressive performance by 1st Team All-American, Emilee Maldonado with 21pts, 7rebs, 6assts and 6stls.
– Want to put attention back on a charity game that is happening this weekend. NCAA D1 UC Davis is headed to play a road exhibition game at William Jessup. D1’s don’t play road games against NAIA programs often, but this one is for a good cause as 100% of the proceeds go to help victims of the Dixie Fire.
– We are waiting on a few graphics again, but we have more Conference Previews ready to be published. We will have them posted hopefully today and into tomorrow once we receive the graphics for them. We are prepping for another BIG weekend as more and more teams have their season openers either this weekend or next week!
