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NAIA Hoops Report Daily Dive, Saturday October 31, 2026: Halloween Hoops Chaos, 9 Ranked Teams Down.

Saturday, October 31, 2026 | By Junior

Spooky season is HERE!

Friday brought a win over the defending national champions, more trouble for ranked teams, a new coach’s first win and a finish that Keiser will remember for a long time. If you turned that last one off early, you missed quite a comeback.

No. 25 Morningside knocked off No. 1 Grace, and St. Thomas went into Henderson and beat No. 2 Freed-Hardeman. Texas A&M–San Antonio added the late upset, beating No. 17 The Master’s 89–82 and bringing the Thursday–Friday total to nine ranked teams beaten. Bethel, Montana Tech, Rio Grande and Talladega also picked up ranked wins. Indiana Wesleyan got a big debut from Brady Scholl, and Keiser somehow found a way out of a 12-point hole with less than five minutes to play.

Let’s get into it!

Friday’s biggest games

No 17 The Master’s falls 89–82 to Texas A&M San Antonio

Texas A&M–San Antonio 89, No. 17 The Master’s 82. The late West Coast game added one more ranked loss to Friday’s board. The Jaguars won by seven on the road, handing the Mustangs a loss in their season opener and pushing the weekend’s total to nine distinct ranked teams beaten.

The Master’s gets a quick turnaround against No. 11 Keiser on Saturday. After the Seahawks’ escape at Life Pacific, that matchup has another layer of interest. Official GSAC final

Morningside knocks off No 1 Grace

No. 25 Morningside 83, No. 1 Grace 68. That will get everyone’s attention!

Alex Wilcoxson scored 31 points—25 of them in the second half. That is how you finish a game against the preseason No. 1. Morningside shot nearly 57 percent after halftime and won the Crossroads/GPAC Challenge matchup by 15. Official Wilcoxson postgame report

We circled this one before Friday tipped off, and Morningside delivered the kind of result that makes an early-season weekend memorable. Official final · Postgame with Wilcoxson and coach Trent Miller

St Thomas takes down the defending champions

St. Thomas 76, No. 2 Freed-Hardeman 70. What a road win for the Bobcats!

Freed-Hardeman led 41–31 with 59 seconds left in the first half, but St. Thomas stayed in it and delivered the better finish. The Lions’ final lead was 67–66 with 2:13 remaining. Even after a late three brought FHU within 71–70, Zyier Beverly answered with a layup with 24 seconds left to give the Bobcats a little breathing room.

Beverly was excellent: 26 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, shooting 7-for-15 from the floor, 3-for-4 from three and 9-for-12 at the line. Aden Nyekan supplied an efficient 12-point, 10-rebound double-double, making six of eight shots. Towa Siler II added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Nigle Cook finished with 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks.

St. Thomas overcame 18 turnovers, shot 48.1 percent and blocked nine shots. FHU finished at 38.9 percent from the floor. A big result, and a big day for a Bobcats group that had already won at Bethel (TN) earlier in the week. Archived FHU box link—destination not independently inspected

Keiser refuses to join the upset list

No. 11 Keiser 66, Life Pacific 64. Do not leave early!

Life Pacific led 61–49 with 4:26 left. The Warriors still had a 64–57 advantage with 1:14 remaining. Keiser then scored the game’s final nine points, with Jackson Slater finishing the winning layup off a Jaylen Lee assist with six seconds left.

That is a 17–3 finish from the 12-point deficit, including the closing 9–0 burst. On a night full of ranked-team trouble, the Seahawks escaped.

Cortez Abel finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Loghan Downie delivered 13 points and 10 rebounds. This belongs near the top of the weekend’s comeback list. Official box score and play by play

LSU Shreveport edges Georgetown in top 10 battle

No. 9 LSU Shreveport 63, No. 7 Georgetown 61. The Tigers took down No. 3 Arizona Christian on Thursday, then found themselves on the other end of a ranked result Friday. The Pilots held on for a two-point win, keeping the Remy Classic at the center of the early-season conversation. Official final

Arizona Christian bounced back with a 76–66 win over Park. Now the Firestorm get LSU Shreveport on Saturday, while Georgetown faces Park. Three days, three different tests for the Remy field. Official ACU final

Bethel hands Concordia a very different night

Bethel (KS) 81, No. 19 Concordia (NE) 74. A night after Concordia beat Kansas Wesleyan 89–61, the Bulldogs ran into a much tougher result in North Newton.

Bethel opened its season with a seven-point win over a ranked visitor. Concordia’s two-game Kansas trip produced a split, and the Threshers start their schedule with a result worth keeping on the national radar. Official KCAC result

Montana Tech wins the Cascade versus Frontier test

RV Montana Tech 83, No. 16 College of Idaho 71. The Orediggers took the neutral-court matchup in Dillon by 12, giving the Frontier a notable cross-conference win.

The Orediggers won on Montana Western’s floor in Dillon. College of Idaho stays in Dillon for Saturday’s game against the tournament host. Official Frontier result

Ron Miller opens his Rio Grande tenure with a ranked win

Rio Grande 86, No. 22 Madonna 84. A two-point game and a memorable debut for a new coaching era.

Ron Miller’s first victory at Rio Grande came against a nationally ranked opponent in the RedStorm’s season opener. Miller had already been a successful head coach at Ohio Christian, so this is a first-at-his-new-school milestone rather than his first career win.

An opening-night ranked win is a pretty good way to introduce yourself. Official result · RSC preseason coaching context

Talladega adds another ranked result

Talladega 97, No. 23 William Carey 90. The Tornadoes put 97 on the board against a Top 25 opponent and joined the growing group with an early ranked win.

Another cross-conference test, another ranked team on the wrong end of the final score. Official SSAC result

Indiana Wesleyan gets a big debut from Scholl

No. 5 Indiana Wesleyan 90, RV Indiana Tech 66. Brady Scholl made quite an introduction in a Wildcat uniform with 24 points and nine rebounds. Isaac Andrews added 22 points and six made threes.

Indiana Wesleyan won by 24 at the CL/WHAC Challenge. Those are two individual performances that deserve a spot in the Friday recap. Official IWU final and player lines

Oregon Tech makes a strong opening statement

Oregon Tech 84, OUAZ 59. The Owls won the ERAU Halloween Classic matchup by 25 in Prescott. They get the host, Embry-Riddle, on Saturday after the Eagles’ own 97–79 win over Stanton.

That sets up a good second-day test between two Friday winners. Official Cascade result · Embry-Riddle result

The ranked losses keep piling up

Nine different teams in the preseason Top 25 have now lost across Thursday and Friday: No. 1 Grace, No. 2 Freed-Hardeman, No. 3 Arizona Christian, No. 7 Georgetown, No. 16 College of Idaho, No. 17 The Master’s, No. 19 Concordia, No. 22 Madonna and No. 23 William Carey.

That includes the top three teams in the poll. Arizona Christian’s loss came Thursday against Georgetown; the other eight fell Friday. Some of these were ranked-on-ranked games, so not every loss belongs in the same upset category. But that is a lot of early movement before we even get through Halloween weekend.

Keiser nearly joined that group before its late rally. Both teams tied at No. 11—Keiser and Oklahoma Wesleyan—won Friday.

Top 25 scoreboard

Rankings are from the October 21 NAIA preseason coaches’ poll; Keiser and Oklahoma Wesleyan share No. 11. RV means receiving votes. Box scores are linked where verified; uninspected links and missing boxes are labeled.

Antonio Leavy goes for a career high

Antonio Leavy: 39 points and 11 rebounds. The Calumet College of St. Joseph standout set a career scoring high in the Crimson Wave’s 87–64 win over Kuyper.

Antonio Foxwell added 18 points and seven rebounds, while Kyrin Dock contributed 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. Calumet’s official post confirmed both the career high and the team’s second win. That is a performance deserving of its own spotlight. Official final and milestone

Friday’s standout performances

  • Alex Wilcoxson, Morningside: 31 points, including 25 after halftime, in the win over No. 1 Grace.
  • Zyier Beverly, St. Thomas: 26 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in the road win over No. 2 Freed-Hardeman.
  • Dustin Farrow, Rochester Christian: 24 points and eight rebounds. Official team report
  • Mason Parker, Rochester Christian: 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Official team report
  • Brady Scholl, Indiana Wesleyan: 24 points and nine rebounds in his Wildcat debut.
  • Isaac Andrews, Indiana Wesleyan: 22 points, including six threes.
  • Aden Nyekan, St. Thomas: 12 points and 10 rebounds on 6-for-8 shooting.
  • Loghan Downie, Keiser: 13 points and 10 rebounds in the comeback win.
  • Cortez Abel, Keiser: 14 points and nine rebounds.
  • Towa Siler II, St. Thomas: 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.
  • Jackson Slater, Keiser: The winning layup with six seconds remaining.

More performances worth your attention

Kaleb Jeffries helped Fisk climb out of a 14-point halftime hole. He scored 28 off the bench as Fisk rallied past Crowley’s Ridge 89–85. That is a bench performance that changed a game. Official Fisk report

Culver-Stockton had two players combine for 60. Juan Madrigal scored 31, and Luke Stuckey added 29 with nine made threes in the Wildcats’ 91–81 win over Governors State. Culver-Stockton moved to 2–0. Nine threes deserves its own pause! Official report

Dez Perkins poured in 31 as Xavier (LA) beat Dillard 72–61. Dordt’s Millikan delivered 26 points, 10 rebounds and six threes in an 80–60 win over Benedictine (KS). Two more names for the Friday performance list. Xavier · Dordt

Two finishes for the highlight reel: EJ Reese’s dunk with two seconds remaining gave Saint Mary-of-the-Woods a 64–63 win over IU South Bend; Reese finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Hesston beat Central Christian 80–79 on Trent Thompson’s basket at 0:00, according to the official play by play. SMWC official report · Hesston–Central Christian play by play

Cornerstone gets the opening win behind Bird and Schultz

Cornerstone’s official report confirms a season-opening win over Spring Arbor, with Bird scoring 30 points on 61.5 percent three-point shooting and Schultz adding 22 points and 11 rebounds. Those performances belong in the morning roundup, even while the exact final score remains independently unverified. We are not attaching a score to the game until that last detail is confirmed. Official Cornerstone report

More from Friday

Close-game watch: Carolina (NC) edged Campbellsville 61–60 at the Brady Button Memorial Classic. Bushnell won 96–92 at Providence, Hastings beat Valley City State 84–81, and Webber International got past Thomas 80–77. That gives us four more one- or two-possession finals beyond the ranked games. Carolina–Campbellsville · Bushnell–Providence · Hastings–Valley City State · Webber–Thomas

First head-coaching win: Rochester Christian’s 90–71 win over IU East gave Quin Rice his first victory as a head coach, confirmed by the Warriors’ official postgame celebration. Dustin Farrow led with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Mason Parker added 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Rice was promoted after serving on the staff since 2019. Official result · University announcement · Official first-win celebration

Other verified finals:

  • Montana Western 77, Park Gilbert 55. Official result
  • John Brown 91, Ottawa 58. Result
  • Life 80, Georgia Southern–East Georgia 75. Result
  • Montana State-Northern 68, Walla Walla 56. Result
  • Lindsey Wilson 100, Mission (MO) 67. Result
  • Southeastern 78, Brewton-Parker 63. Result
  • Faulkner 91, Milligan 80. Result
  • Friends 94, Haskell 60. Result
  • Lewis-Clark State 107, Northwest Indian College 62. Result
  • Bellevue 108, Union Adventist 54. Counts for Bellevue. Official result

Science & Arts 123, Barclay 41. This counts for the NAIA Science & Arts side; Barclay labels its side an exhibition. It belongs in the NAIA counting-results list with that distinction preserved. Official result · Official play by play

The rest of the counting scoreboard

The morning verification pass filled in more of Friday’s slate. William Penn beat Northwestern 104–99, Dickinson State edged Midland 80–79, and William Woods survived Avila 82–80. Aquinas opened with a 77–69 win over St. Francis (IL), while Defiance beat Saint Francis (IN) 71–67. William Penn · Dickinson State · William Woods · Aquinas–USF · Defiance

Saturday games to keep on your radar

The Remy Classic continues with No. 3 Arizona Christian against No. 9 LSU Shreveport and No. 7 Georgetown against Park. That is another top-10 matchup before the event wraps up. ACU conference schedule · Georgetown conference schedule

Out west, No. 11 Keiser visits No. 17 The Master’s at 7 p.m. Central, while Oregon Tech visits Embry-Riddle at 6 p.m. Central. Both tip times convert the official host-side conference listings from Pacific time. College of Idaho also faces Montana Western in Dillon. The Master’s schedule · Embry-Riddle schedule · Montana Western schedule

New Road To Muni episode

Chris and Ally Wright: Family, Hoops and Fun is now available. Catch the conversation with Alabama State’s head coach and his wife on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Keep the Scores and Schedules page handy, and send us the performances and milestones that deserve a spotlight as the weekend continues.

NAIA hoops. Good At Basketball.

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