- Good Morning NAIA Hoops Nation! We are just 50 days away from the NAIA DII National Tournament! The Marathon, will soon be a sprint, to the finish, as league titles and playoff spots are still up for grabs!
- With it being MLK Jr. Day yesterday, most colleges didn’t have classes, so we were able to enjoy some afternoon games on a Monday. Here are the two early afternoon games we had circled:
- DI #6 Dalton State 102 – 17 Loyola 87
- Loyola has been finding themselves on the right side of a lot of close games as of late, but Dalton State came to New Orleans on a mission, and dominated the game from early on in the 1st half, as they were sparked by a 16-2 run with around 12 minutes to go to take a 37-21 lead. That run was the difference in the game as Dalton State was able to hold off a small 2nd half run to get a great Southern States Athletic Conference road win. They remain tied for 1st place with Faulkner. Game Recap|Box Score
- DII Southwestern (KS) 88 – Avila 77
- Southwestern won it’s 7th game in the last 8 to move to 9-6 in the KCAC. Southwestern hit 16 3’s on 55% from 3 to get the win, and held Avila to just 38.8% from the field in the game. Andrew Hamm, and Jarehn White both had 23 a piece in the win. The MoundBuilders will host McPherson and Sterling to finish off the week. Game Recap|Box Score
- #3 William Penn (IA) 93 – Mount Mercy (IA) 89
- Mount Mercy hit a school record 20 3’s, including 12 in the 1st half to give them a 54-47 lead at the break. The Statesmen quickly roared back into the game tying the game at 57 early in the 2nd half, and then took that momentum into an eight point lead at the midway point of the 2nd half. Mount Mercy would continue to hit 3’s though and made it a game late. However, the Statesmen were able to make enough 3’s to keep Mount Mercy at bay. The Statesmen currently hold a 3 game lead in the Heart of America, but they host MidAmerica Nazarene on Wednesday, who gave them their only loss on the year back in late November. Kevion Blaylock finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for William Penn. Game Recap|Box Score
- #13 Faulkner (AL) 76 – Mobile (AL) 58
- A shorthanded Faulkner team was able to use a 22-6 run in the 1st half to break the game open. Mobile did close out the half on a mini run, but found themselves down 44-25 at half. The 1st half run would prove to be the difference maker though, as Mobile couldn’t find any rhythm and was held to 33.3% from the field, and just 16.7% from 3. Faulkner got 18 points from CJ Jones to get their 7th straight win. Faulkner remains tied for 1st place in the SSAC, and they end their 5 game road stretch on Saturday when they hit the road to play at Middle Georgia State.
- DII Haskell (KS) 50 – Lincoln (IL) 58
- The only home team on our circled games list to get the win last night. This was kind of a slow moving game, with neither team getting a lot of separation in this one. The game was tied at 45 with 5:11 left in the game, but Lincoln went on a 13-5 run to end the game to get their 4th win in a row. Darnell Latham Jr. finished with 20 points for the Lynx. Box Score
- In Case you missed it, we posted several conference weekly review articles yesterday. Right now we have the Crossroads, GPAC, Mid-South, and River States. We are also in talks with a couple other people about adding a couple more leagues, and by next season we will have every league covered. We appreciate your patience in our first year of coverage of NAIA!!
- Want to give a shout out and congratulations to Mayville State Head Coach Darren Tighe who got his 100th career win over the weekend!
