By Chad Waller, NAIA Director of Communications & Sports Information, cwaller@naia.org

NAIA Game of the Week
No. 6 Rogers State (Okla.) (17-4, 10-4 SAC) at No. 15 Southern Nazarene (Okla.) (17-6, 10-5 SAC)
Saturday, Bethany, Okla., 5 p.m. CST, Sawyer Center

• With three more weeks remaining in the regular season in the Sooner Athletic Conference, both No. 6 Rogers State and No. 15 Southern Nazarene are in a "must-win" situation if they have plans of winning the conference championship. Rogers State trails leader No. 4 Oklahoma Baptist by 1.5 games and the Crimson Storm are two games back.
• Both programs are coming off recent losses in conference action. Southern Nazarene was upset by No. 23 John Brown (Ark.), 75-61, on Thursday. The Hillcats dropped a 66-57 decision to Oklahoma Baptist on Jan. 26 before taking down Science & Arts (Okla.) in their last outing on Thursday.
• Rogers State is 7-3 on the road this year. All three of those losses have come in the last five road contests. Conversely, Southern Nazarene is 9-3 on its home court.
• Southern Nazarene holds a 6-4 mark in the series in the last 10 meetings. The Crimson Storm have won three of the last five contests, including a 90-48 thrashing during the 2011 SAC tournament.
• Led by balanced scoring, Southern Nazarene shoots at a 48.7 percent mark from the field, which ranks 11th in the NAIA. Ryan Aaron is the team's scoring leader at 15.3 points, followed by Daniel White (13.4) and Jon West (12.4). Overall, five players average double-figures in scoring. Tyrone Lyons (10.6 ppg) ranks fifth in the nation with 46 total blocks and averages 2.0 per contest.
• Similar to the Crimson Storm, Rogers State ranks high among team leaders in field goal percentage (.516), which is second. Kendrell Thompson tops five teammates in double-digits with a 13.2 scoring clip. Meneptha Darden leads the regulars in rebounding (5.7).

 This Week Around the Top 25

• On Saturday, several ranked teams face tough competition, but none of the opponents are ranked besides the Game of the Week.
• No. 2 Robert Morris (Ill.) and No. 21 Tougaloo (Miss.) are tied for the Division I longest active winning streak at eight games. LSU Shreveport (La.), who is one spot outside of the Top 25, is right behind with a current seven-game streak.
• Three of the top-five ranked teams in the Coaches' Top 25 poll suffered defeats earlier this week. Top-ranked Shorter (Ga.) lost for the first time this year after a program-record 22-0 start with a 73-72 defeat to Point (Ga.) on Thursday. Also, No. 3 Southern Poly (Ga.) lost, 65-63, to Emmanuel (Ga.) on Monday and LSU Shreveport took down No. 5 Our Lady of the Lake (Texas), 83-74. Overall, through games played on Thursday, Top-25 teams are 17-6 (.739) this week.
• Two days after its first loss of the year, No. 1 Shorter looks to rebound with a road game at Southern Wesleyan (S.C.) on Saturday. The Hawks still lead the country with 22 victories and are the only one-loss team in Division I.
• The only two-loss team, No. 2 Robert Morris (Ill.) faces Calumet (Ind.) on Feb. 8. The Eagles are 20-2 and look to extend their eight-game winning streak.

 Tickets on Sale for Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship

• Tickets to the 75th Anniversary tournament are now on-sale. Single session tickets may be purchased at the Municipal Auditorium Box Office located in downtown Kansas City, Mo., at any Ticketmaster outlet, on-line at Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 1-800-745-3000.
• Coined College Basketball's Toughest Tournament, the historic 75th anniversary event gets underway at Municipal Auditorium on Wednesday, March 14, with the first of 31 games tipping off at 9 a.m. (CST).
• Special events around the 75th Anniversary celebration will include recognition of the 75th Anniversary All-Tournament Team of former players and coaches.

 Player Milestones

• Saint Xavier (Ill.) sophomore guard Brad Karp accomplished a rare feat on Jan. 21 surpassing the 1,000-point milestone in just his second collegiate season as the 21st-ranked Cougars rolled to a 104-66 win over Purdue University-Calumet (Ind.). Karp finished the game with 22 points for the Cougars, trailing only the 32-point effort of teammate Roosevelt Green.
• National Player of the Week (Jan. 17) and Lindsey Wilson's (Ky.) Chase Spreen made national attention on ESPN's SportsCenter with his 80-foot buzzer-beater against No. 5 Georgetown (Ky.) on Jan. 14. That play, which was the game-winner and sent the Blue Raiders to a 79-78 win, was chosen as No. 2 on the nightly top-10 broadcast. The 6-foot-6 senior forward finished the game with 23 points, nine rebounds and hit a career-high five 3-pointers. You can view that video here.

 National Statistical Leaders

• Ken Brown of Philander Smith (Ark.) leads the NAIA with a 32.3 scoring average. He has reached 30 points in 14- of-20 games this year and is riding an eight-game stretch of 30-plus. He went for a 45-point breakout against Xavier (La.) on Jan. 16, which is a NAIA game high.
• Steven Jurich of Hope International (Calif.) holds the national lead with 13.4 boards per contest. Right behind is Derrick Parker of LSU Shreveport (La.) with a 12.3 average.
• Anthony Sampson of Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) distributes a nation-best 9.2 assists per game.
• Derrick Parker of LSU Shreveport (La.), who is second in rebounding (12.3), swats an NAIA-best 3.4 shots per contest.

 Coaching Milestones

• Concordia (Calif.) head coach Ken Ammann recorded his 300th victory on Jan. 24 in a 79-76 road victory over Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.). Ammann came to Concordia in June, 2001 for his first head coaching job and took over a team that had gone 13-18 the year before. He led his team to 21 wins during his first season (2001-02). The next year, the Eagles won more games than anyone at any level of college basketball, at 36 games, en route to the school's, and conference's, first and only NAIA National Championship. In his 10-plus years at the helm, Ammann has secured a record of 301-74.
• Robert Morris (Ill.) head coach Al Bruehl has a shot this season of reaching the 500-win career clip. With his Eagles standing 20-2 currently, he stands 492-196 with at least four more regular season games and the possibility of conference tournament contests.
• MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) head coach Rocky Lamar would need just one opportunity to claim his 600th career coaching win as the Pioneers knocked off Missouri Valley, 69-57, on Jan. 14. Lamar became the 10th active coach in the NAIA to reach the impressive milestone in his 26th season at MNU, boosting his overall record to 600-307 (.662).