Story by NAIA Office

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box score) No. 5 seeded Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) eliminated the third top seed of the day on the way to the quarterfinal round of the 2016 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship with an 83-64 win over No. 1-seeded Lewis-Clark State (Idaho).

With other number one seeds Biola (Calif.) and LSU Alexandria (La.) already falling in second round games on Friday, the Saints eliminated the top seed in the Cramer Bracket to set up a Round of Eight matchup with No. 3-seeded MidAmerica Nazarene on Saturday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m. CDT.

Joe Jackson was a dominating presence for Our Lady of the Lake, posting a game-high of 27 points and an overall tournament-high 16 rebounds on 9 of 13 shooting. Olajuwon Garner chipped in with 14 points, while Alex Sattley added 11 points and seven rebounds.

“We had a lot of toughness tonight and energy,” said Our Lady of the Lake head coach Ryan Wall. “Our one goal is to bring a sense of being tough each and every game and I thought we did that tonight. I am very proud of our kids.”

Defense did the job for the Saints, who held the Warriors 13 points below their season defensive average of almost 77 points per game. Lewis-Clark State shot just 29.7 percent from the field (19 of 64), including a 7-for-43 clip (.163) from three-point range. The Saints also took advantage at the free throw line by hitting 24 of 35 attempts, while the Warriors finished 19 of 33 at the charity stripe.

A five-minute stretch midway through the first half gave the Saints a sizeable cushion that proved to be a foundation for the rest of the contest. A free throw by Sattley opened up a 15-2 run capped off by three-pointers from Garner and Jackson for a 31-12 lead with 6:39 until halftime. The lead swelled to as much as 24 before intermission and never dropped below double digits the rest of the game.

Isaiah Omamogho was the only Lewis-Clark State player in double figures, finishing with 19 points and three rebounds. Rich Tesmer tallied nine points, six assists and five rebounds, while Youssoupha Kane posted eight points and eight rebounds.

Lewis-Clark State finishes its season with a 29-5 record.