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.
We are really seeing some of these conference races starting to heat up! Again, it’s not just about the conference titles, but we have teams in the middle or back half of leagues who are still fighting for Conference Tournament bids. This has amplified the intensity of ball games as of late! We are getting so many great games and so many great buzzer beaters. While we still have some leagues that are super messy when it comes to the Standings. The cream is starting to rise to the top and we are at least seeing who are real conference title contenders! Going to be a fun sprint to the finish line here in February!
Recap of Yesterday’s Games of the Day:
RV Cumberlands 60 @ 20 Thomas More 61 (Full Recap)
An absolute great win for Cumberlands in this game. A team that has been on the struggle bus as of late and needed this win. They are a talented group, who if they can make it to the National Tournament, can make a run. They still have some work to do and have to play Shawnee State next, but they will enjoy this win for now! Tevin Olison was a beast down the stretch hitting two big 3’s and hitting big FT after big FT including the game winning FT’s! He finished with 27pts in the win.
Missouri Baptist 70 @ Columbia 93 (Full Recap)
When we put this as a Game of the Day, we had forgotten that Missouri Baptist was still without a healthy chunk of it’s team due to quarantine. Despite that, Columbia College continues to play good basketball right now. They stay a game back of Central Baptist for 1st place in the AMC and move to 13-4 on the season. Tony Burks continues to be a real force for the Cougars as he finishes the game with 19pts in the win.
19 Tx A&M Texarkana 73 @ 2 LSU – Shreveport 93 (Full Recap)
Shreveport jumped out to an early lead in this one and never looked back. The Pilots put 7 guys into double figures led by Jeff Boyd who finished with 19pts, 5rebs and 3blks. Kadavion Evans is still recovering from being out sick, but did come off the bench for 12pts, 6rebs, 4assts in his return. These two teams will play again on Saturday, this time at Texarkana!
Full Scoreboard:
Top Performers:
– Brooks Haddock was throwing flames last night as he goes 12-14 from THREE, on his way to 41pts in Oklahoma Wesleyan’s win! The 12 3’s set a new OKWU school and KCAC record for most 3’s in a game!
– A once Top 5 MACU team is back to full strength as they get Tony Dorsey back. He had a big return with 21pts and 10rebs in MACU’s win.
– James Jones just misses a Triple-Double as he finishes with 18pts, 10rebs and 9assts for Shawnee State as the Bears continue to roll!
Top Plays of the Day:
– Stephon Hall answers a big OCU 3, with his own buzzer beater 3 to propel #9 USAO to victory!
– Here is the record breaking 3 from Brooks Haddock last night
