- Good Morning NAIA Hoops Nation!! The North Star, and Sun Conferences got us jump started last night with some opening round conference tournament action.
- First though, there were two NAIA DI games last night that. Both had some value to them. In the first game, #23 Texas Wesleyan defeated #13 SAGU 92-87. Nykolas Mason put up 33 points for SAGU, but they were unable to stop Texas Wesleyan big men, as Sebastian Karwoski had a 18 point, 18 rebound double-double, and Akeem White came off the bench to add in 23 points and 7 rebounds to help Texas Wesleyan come away with the win.
- The win puts Texas Wesleyan into a tie with SAGU record wise, but last nights win gave Texas Wesleyan the season sweep over SAGU, and now take over the 3 seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference with 1 game to go. SAGU will try to rebound at home on Saturday when they face a very good #9 John Brown team.
- The other NAIA DI game only featured 1 NAIA team, in Pikeville, but it was Kelly Wells last home game as head coach of the Bears. They went on to defeat NCAA DII Bluefiled State 98-73. They will need to win the Mid-South Tournament in order to get to the NAIA National Tournament, but no matter what happens between now and the end of the season, Kelly Wells is an All-Time Great, and we hope he gets an extended season in his final season!
- Here are the scores from the 1st round of the North Star Athletic Association Tournament
| Home | Away | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayville State (N.D.) | Dakota State (S.D.) | 74-59 | |
| Bellevue (Neb.) | Presentation (S.D.) | 62-53 | |
| Dickinson State (N.D.) | Waldorf (Iowa) | 79 – 82 | |
| Viterbo (Wis.) | Valley City State (N.D.) | 7:00 PM |
- #1 Bellevue survived a bit of a scare from the #8 Seed Presentation. While #2 seed Mayville State had no problem with Dakota State. The only lower seed to win, was our NSAA Dark Horse team – #5 Waldorf, who went on the road and defeated #4 Dickinson State.
- A highlight from last nights NSAA Tournament had Bellevue’s Isaiah Bates showing off his leaping ability with this massive throw down!
- The Sun Conference was the only other DII league in action last night. Here are the 1st round scores:
| Home | Away | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas (Fla.) | Webber International (Fla.) | 94 – 67 | |
| Ave Maria (Fla.) | Warner (Fla.) | 89 – 67 |
- #4 seed Ave Maria stormed out of the gates to get the big first round win over #5 Warner. While our Sun Conference Dark Horse – #3 St. Thomas got the win over Webber International.
- Maybe the play of the night came from Ave Maria:
- We have another nice slate of games tonight, as more NAIA DII leagues kick off their Conference Tournaments, and the Heart of America has a full slate in NAIA DI action!
