Story by Eric Montgomery, NAIA Media Coordinator

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box Score) No. 4-seeded SAGU (Texas) advanced to the second round of the 2017 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship with a 81-75 victory over fifth-seeded Talladega (Ala.), Wednesday morning at Municipal Auditorium. The Lions will play the winner of No. 1-seeded Carroll (Mont.) and No. 8-seeded Mount Mercy (Iowa) on Friday, March 17 at 10:45 a.m. CST

Keyunta Watkins registered a game-high 25 points to go along with four rebounds for the Lions, while Lance Tipton added 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Isaak Rowe recorded 12 points and seven rebounds, and Josh Williams posted 11 points and nine rebounds.

“Today was one of those mile markers we needed to pass,” said SAGU head coach Donnie Bostwick. “The last couple of years, we were one of the last couple of teams to get in and played a really tough team and got beat in the first round. Talladega is a great team. It took a great shot to get the lead. I’m really proud of my guys.”

Talladega took a 31-29 lead into halftime after trailing by a dozen midway through the opening stanza. Watkins hit a pair of free throws at the 9:31 mark for a 23-11 lead, but the Tornadoes posted a 20-6 scoring stretch the remainder of the half. Jordan Washington and Keynan Gardner-Willis scored back-to-back buckets to break a 25-25 tie as the Tornadoes took the lead into intermission.

The Tornadoes were able to stretch the lead to six early on in the second half and held a four-point lead following a transition bucket by Marcus Brown at the 16:01 mark. A three-pointer by the Lions’ Adrian Palacios, however, began a swing in momentum to SAGU, sparking a 13-0 run over the next 3:35.

SAGU maintained the lead the rest of the way, though Talladega closed to within two as late as 2:18 remaining after two free throws by Tauron Bailey. Lance Tipton made four free throws in the final 25 seconds to preserve the win for the Lions.

“I feel like we came out with a good game plan and we executed in the first half,” said Talladega head coach Matt Cross. In the second half, we came out strong and got up by about six, but SAGU started knocking down some three-pointers. We lost some assignments on defense, both in the half-court and in transition, and SAGU hit some shots.”

SAGU finished the game 11 of 26 (.423) from three-point range and converted 17 of 23 from the free throw line (.739) in the second half. Talladega was 11 of 18 (.611) from the free throw line in the second half and shot 37.9 percent (25 of 66) from the field overall.

Brown led the way for the Tornadoes with 22 points and nine rebounds. Washington added 16 points and four rebounds, while Bailey and Qua Doster each recorded 12 points, with Bailey grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds.

Talladega finished its season with a record of 22-11.

Game Notes:
SAGU – The Lions claimed a first round win for the first time since the 2003 national championship to improve to 2-4 all-time in tournament openers and 5-5 overall … SAGU entered the contest leading the NAIA in steals per game (12.7) and finished with nine in the game … Watkins extended his streak of scoring in double figures to 40 games dating back to last season … The Lions hit at least 10 three-point shots for the sixth time this season.

Talladega – The Tornadoes appeared in the national championship for the fourth-straight season and suffered a first round defeat for the first time in that stretch to fall to 5-5 overall all-time … Bailey recorded his third double-double of the season, his first since the opening two games of the season … Washington came into the tournament averaging 24.9 points per game, but was held to 25 points combined in the final two games this season.