NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship Day One Recap
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – [Schedule | Bracket] No. 1 overall seeded College of Idaho made a statement on Monday in one of the highlights of the first day of play in the 2023 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship Final Site. In the second game of the day, the Yotes started off hot and never looked back in a 98-50 win in the day’s second game. Tougaloo (Miss.) earned the first win of the 2023 event with an impressive 74-68 victory over St. Thomas (Fla.). OUAZ (Ariz.) earned its first ever win in Kansas City while Montana Tech put together the overtime upset over William Penn (Iowa) in the nightcap.
First Round Results – Day One | March 13, 2023
No. 6 Tougaloo (Miss.) def. No. 10 St. Thomas (Fla.) 74-68 | Box Score
No. 1 College of Idaho def. No. 5 LSU Shreveport (La.) 98-50 | Box Score
No. 7 OUAZ (Ariz.) def. No. 11 Southeastern (Fla.) 79-71 | Box Score
No. 4 Montana Tech def. No. 1 William Penn (Iowa) 79-78 (OT) | Box Score
Day Two Matchups | March 14, 2023
No. 2 Langston (Okla.) vs. No. 3 Georgetown (Ky.) | 1:00 p.m. CT
No. 1 Grace (Ind.) vs. No. 5 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) | 3:00 p.m. CT
No. 2 Indiana Tech vs. No. 3 Jamestown (N.D.) | 5:00 p.m. CT
No. 1 Arizona Christian vs. No. 4 Morningside (Iowa) | 7:00 p.m. CT
News and Notes
Game 1 – No. 6 Tougaloo (Miss.) vs. No. 10 St. Thomas (Fla.)
Tougaloo (Miss.) – No. 6 (Naismith)
- The Bulldogs improve to 31-1 on the season.
- Tougaloo has now won 19-straight games dating back to January 13.
- Cameron Copeland led Tougaloo in scoring with 20 points, all on the bench.
- 18 of Copeland’s points came in the second half.
- Tougaloo will now play either No. 1 College of Idaho or No. 5 LSU-Shreveport on Wednesday at 1 pm.
- This marks the first NAIA National Tournament Final Site win for head coach Eric Strothers, as this is his first season with the Bulldogs.
- St. Thomas outrebounded the Bulldogs, 35-32.
- The Bulldogs outscored the Bobcats, 36-22, in the paint.
St. Thomas (Fla.) – No. 10 (Naismith)
- The Bobcats end their season with a record of 26-8.
- 9th appearance in the NAIA Men’s Basketball Tournament
- 21st in the NAIA in offensive efficiency
- 14th in the NAIA in blocks per game averaging 4.4 blocks per game
- Ranked No. 5 in the NAIA in Assists with an average of 18.5 per game
- Led in scoring by Junior Guard Milton Matthews at 18.9 ppg
- D’Andre Johnson led the Bobcats with 20 points and Milton Matthews also finished in double figures with 13 points
- St. Thomas’ last appearance in the NAIA Tournament was in 2018
Game 2 – College of Idaho vs. LSU Shreveport (La.)
College of Idaho – No. 1 (Naismith)
- This marked the fifth time in 2022-23 COI has had a lead of 20 or more points at halftime.
- COI has now won 32-straight games when leading at halftime.
- College of Idaho outscored LSU-Shreveport, 50-20, in points in the paint.
- The Yotes held the Pilots to just 26.7-percent shooting from the floor and 15.8-percent.
- COI has now won 33-straight games. The Yotes lost their first game of the season and haven’t lost since.
- 12 different Yotes scored in the contest.
- Charles Elzie led the team in scoring with 25 it was a career-high for the junior.
- This marked the eighth victory of 30 or more points for COI this season.
- The Yotes had four scorers in double figures
- COI had 21 assists and outrebounded the Pilots, 49-33
- College of Idaho improves to 33-1 on the season
LSU Shreveport (La.) – No. 5 (Naismith)
- The Pilots end their season 26-8
- 15th in the NAIA in rebounds averaging 41 rebounds per game
- 34th in the NAIA in steals per game averaging 3.9 per game
- Ranked No. 23 in the NAIA in points per game averaging 83.3 ppg
- Led in scoring by Senior Guard Jalen Brooks, averaging 23.3 ppg
- Brooks ranks third in the NAIA in rebounds at 11.3 per game
- LSU-Shreveport Head Coach Kyle Blankenship is in his 11th season as head coach of the program and owns an overall record of 256-87
- This is LSU-Shreveport’s 19th straight appearance in the NAIA tournament and 19th appearance overall
- The Pilots shot just 16-of-60 from the field
Game 3 – OUAZ (Ariz.) vs. Southeastern (Fla.)
OUAZ (Ariz.) – No. 7 (Cramer)
- The Spirit advance to the national quarterfinals and improve to 24-9 on the season
- Second appearance in the NAIA Men’s Basketball Tournament
- Men’s Basketball program was started in 2017
- Head Coach Matt Keeley played at MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) from 2000-2004 and helped MNU make the NAIA National Tournament all four years
- OUAZ is led in scoring by Senior Forward Josiah De’laCerda who is averaging 17.7 ppg
- 26th in the NAIA in scoring averaging 82.8 ppg
- Finished fourth in the Golden State Athletic Conference during the regular season and won the GSAC conference tournament title
- Two players for the Spirit, Josiah De’laCerda and Keshawn Bruner received All-Conference honors with De’laCerda becoming the first player in program history to receive the honor twice
- Knocked off Baker (Kan.) on a buzzer-beater in overtime in the NAIA First Round.
- Upset nationally ranked No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan to advance to Kansas City
- Shot 27-of-47 (57.4%) from the field
- 19-of-22 (86.4%) from the free-throw line as a team
Southeastern (Fla.) – No. 11 (Cramer)
- This marked the first-ever trip to Kansas City for the Fire at the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship.
- The Fire had made four trips to the NAIA Division II Tournament in 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
- This was the first year as head coach for Randy Lee of SEU.
- Southeastern ends their season with an overall record of 20-13.
- SEU only committed six turnovers in the game.
- Riley Minix finished with a double-double with 28 points and 12 rebounds.
Game 4 – William Penn (Iowa) vs. Montana Tech
William Penn (Iowa) – No. 1 (Cramer)
- The Statesmen end the season with a record of 30-4.
- 13th appearance in the NAIA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
- William Penn is one of five teams to reach at least 30 wins this season.
- The Statesmen have won at least a share of the Heart of America Athletic Conference regular season title seven out of the last eight seasons after joining the conference in 2015.
- They rank second in the NAIA in scoring, averaging 89.9 ppg.
- Won both the Heart regular season and tournament title.
- Finished a perfect 18-0 at home this season
- Made the NAIA Fab Four three times in program history
- Shot 27-of-77 (36.4%) from the field
- Grabbed 59 total rebounds, outrebounded the Orediggers, 59-44
Montana Tech – No. 4 (Cramer)
- This is the 4th appearance at the NAIA National Championship for Montana Tech.
- They move to 4-3 all-time at the event.
- The Orediggers improve to 29-4 on the season.
- The win improves their winning streak to 10 games.
- MTU used a 14-1 run in the second half to tie the game at 55-55.
- Montana Tech had four players score in double figures.
- Michael Ure led all Orediggers with 19 points.
- The Montana Tech defense forced 20 turnovers.
- Montana Tech is in search of their first NAIA Fab Four appearance in program history.
