By Sam Knehans, NAIA Sports Information

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box Scores) For the second time in the first round of the 2015 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship, an unseeded team won on Wednesday as Evangel recorded a 67-66 win over No. 11-seeded Wayland Baptist (Texas). The Crusaders will take on No. 6-seeded Dalton State, which knocked off Wiley (Texas) in its first round game, on Friday, March 20 at 9 a.m.

Evangel (21-12) led by as much as 18 points in the second half after holding a 33-30 halftime advantage, but had to survive a trio of last-second shots by Wayland Baptist to advance to the second round for the fourth time in the last five appearances in the national championship.

“Our guys’ heart was very evident in the game,” said Evangel head coach Steve Jenkins. ”We missed a lot of free throws late in the game that allowed the game to be that close, but we did just enough to get the win.”

The Crusaders led 37-35 less than two minutes into the second half before using an 18-2 run over the next 6:21, surging to a 55-37 advantage. Brodie Wingert drained a trio of three-point shots as well as the first two-point field goal of the run to account for 11 of his team-high 20 points.

After Evangel edged the lead out to a game-high 19 points with 10:20 to play, Wayland Baptist responded with 11-straight points over just 3:18, trimming the deficit to eight. Evangel held its last double-digit advantage at 66-56 with 2:08 to play on a three-pointer to set up a thrilling finish.

Wayland Baptist held Evangel without a field goal over the final two minutes and scored eight-straight points to pull within two with 45 seconds left. The Crusaders got a free throw from Brodie Wingert to tally its final point, followed by a lay-up by the Pioneers’ Ta’Quan McDew with 30 seconds remaining. Josh Veurink was fouled with 20 seconds to play, but missed both free throws. McDew got two shots at the basket in the final seconds, but missed both and time expired before another shot could be attempted.

“I am very proud of our team,” said Wayland Baptist head coach Matt Garnett. “They represented our university at a high level this year. I am sincerely honored to have coached them.”

Wingert hit five of nine three-point shots and added four assists and two steals to his team-high point total. Richard Chapman added 14 points for Evangel, Nick Yocum tallied 10 points, and Korry Tillery recorded nine points, a tournament-leading 20 rebounds and four assists.

Wayland Baptist, which finished its season with a record of 27-6, was led by Royal Crouch with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists. Bunja Yaboe chipped in with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Plamen Hristov posted 11 points and seven rebounds.

Game Notes:
Evangel – The Crusaders improved to 4-2 all-time in the first round of the national championship after falling in last season’s opener to Talladega (Ala.) … Evangel claimed its first-ever win against a higher-seeded opponent in its sixth trip to the event … Tillery recorded 17 rebounds in last season’s first round game and now has 22 games this season with at least 10 rebounds.

Wayland Baptist – The Pioneers fell to 6-10 all-time in the first round of the tournament and 9-16 overall in the national championship … Wayland Baptist was held 20 points below its season scoring average of 86.2 points, its lowest point total since tallying 67 points against St. Gregory’s (Okla.) on Jan. 26 … Yaboe tallied his sixth double-double of the season and second in the last four games.