Indiana Tech Advances out of NAIA Men's Basketball Second Round
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Indiana Tech was the lone team from the three Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) qualifiers to advance to the championship site of the 2023 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship. The second-seeded Warriors, hosting one of the First and Second Round sites, posted a pair of victories against No. 15-seeded IU South Bend and 10th-seeded Evangel (Mo.) to advance to the round of 16 in Kansas City.
As a ninth seed, Madonna won its first-ever NAIA tournament game with a first round victory over No. 8-seeded Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), but could not overcome No. 1-seeded Grace (Ind.) in the Second Round.
A No. 14 seed, Lourdes bowed out after a first round loss host and No. 3 seed Georgetown (Ky.).
First Round - Indiana Tech def. IU South Bend, 82-57
Indiana Tech jumped to an 11-point lead midway through the first half and extended it to a 39-24 advantage at the break. The Warriors increased the pressure in the second half as 12 different players scored to push the lead to as many as 30. Led by four players in double-figures, Tech shot 62% from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting .593 including 54.5% from behind the three-point arc.
IU South Bend was led by Donyell Meredith II and Spencer Pettit with 14 points each. Dejon Barney had a game-high eight rebounds as the Titans finished the season at 23-9.
Max Perez scored a game-high 15 points off the bench and Steve Helm added 11 to lead Indiana Tech. Josh Kline grabbed seven rebounds as IT improved to 28-4.
Second Round - Indiana Tech def. Evangel, 71-66
Evangel outscored Indiana Tech by four in the first half (36-32) thanks to 14 points from Josh Pritchett, and extended its lead by a couple of points in the second half until Cory McKinney hit a layup at the 13:42 mark for Tech's first lead of the game. Manrique Alvarado tied the game at 51 for Evangel with a bucket in the paint two minutes later. Four free throws by Cory McKinney put the Warriors back on top by four at the 8:36 mark and instigated a 14-5 run for a nine-point lead with 1:47 left.
Evangel would not go away, though. EU closed the gap to just a single point with 23 seconds on the clock before Josh Kline put an exclamation point on the game with a dunk. Grant Smith sunk a pair of free throws to seal the win as the Warriors shot a blistering 61.9% from the field in the second half.
Pritchett finished with 21 points to lead three Valor players in double figure as EU ended the season at 23-9.
Blake Davison lead all scorers with 23 points and Kline added 15 points and nine rebounds for Indiana Tech (29-4).
First Round - Madonna def. Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), 94-67
After trading baskets early on, Olivet Nazarene opened up a five-point lead midway through the first half on a layup by Tyler Schmidt. Madonna stayed close the rest of the half until Ethan Emerzian nailed a three-pointer at the 4:53 mark to spark an 11-2 run for a seven-point Crusader lead. Landon Pflederer stopped the bleeding for the Tigers, hitting trey with 24 seconds left to cut MU's lead to four at the break (43-39).
Tyler Schmidt gave ONU hope, hitting a layup off a fast break to open the second half, but a technical foul against the Tigers started an 11-4 run by Madonna for a 10-point lead four minutes into the half. Caleb Swearingen cut the lead to three with 10:56 left when Madonna went to work scoring the next 10 points thanks to a three from Henry Speight and marched to a 32-9 run to close out the game.
Schmidt scored a game-high 25 points for the Tigers, but ONU had only one other player in double figures. Swearingen finished with eight rebounds as Olivet Nazarene ended its season at 23-8.
Madonna (25-7) placed five players in double figures led by Devin Dunn's 23 point-point performance. Speight and Mark Mettie both chipped in 17 while Mettie had a game-high 14 rebounds.
Second Round - Grace def. Madonna, 72-61
The tone of the game was set in the opening seconds as Graced scored the first points off a pair of free throws. The teams traded baskets until Madonna enjoyed its first lead of the game at 13-11 thanks to a three-pointer by Henry Speight. The Crusaders started to click, building an eight-point lead by the 7:41 mark. A free throw by Jake Wadding jump started a 16-9 run for Grace that gave the Lancers the lead with 1:53 left in the half. Nine points later, Grace held a six-point advantage.
The battle continued in the second half with Madonna closing the gap to within a single basket a few times, the last at the 2:54 mark when Speight was fouled on a fast break and hit both free throws to cut the lead to three. It's as close as MU would get as Grace scored the next seven points before hitting three of its last four free throws.
Madonna was held to just 9.5% shooting from the three-point line after averaging 34.4% for the year. The Crusaders also committed 15 turnovers to end the season at 25-8. Speight led MU with 17 points while Mark Mettie and Deric Murray added 12 each. Brendan Young finished with a game-high 17 rebounds.
Jakob Gibbs led Grace (30-3) with 24 points while Elijah Malone had 19 points. Cade Gibbs grabbed eight rebounds.
First Round - Georgetown def. Lourdes, 67-58
Trailing by 19 at halftime, Lourdes cut its deficit to four late in the game, but in the end eighth-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) ended the Gray Wolves' season with a 67-58 victory. Lourdes made just 5-of-26 field goal attempts in the opening half as the host Tigers built a 34-15 lead at intermission.
The Gray Wolves tried to battle back in the second half, starting with six straight points to start the final 20 minutes. Trailing 44-28 with 14 minutes to play, Lourdes went on a 14-5 run to pull within seven at the 8:30 mark. After Georgetown pushed the lead back to 11 a minute later, the Gray Wolves scored 10 of the next 13 points, closing to within four, 57-53, at the 3:13 mark on a three-pointer by Little Anderson (Toledo, Ohio/Cardinal Stritch H.S.).
Lourdes had a chance to cut it to a one possession game but turned the ball over and Georgetown answered with a three-pointer, pushing the lead back to seven. The Gray Wolves continued to battle, with a lay-in by Anderson with 1:41 left against cutting the deficit to four, 61-57. Georgetown answered with a second chance tip-in and made free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
Joey Holifield led Lourdes with 19 points while Anderson added 15. The Gray Wolves shot 51.4% from the floor in the second half but finished at just 37.7% for the night. Lourdes also made just 7-of-15 (46.7%) free throws.
Jake Ohmer led Georgetown (27-5) with 16 points while Rashad Bishop added 14 more off the bench. The Tigers shot 47.2% from the floor to overcome 15 turnovers.
Lourdes finishes its season 22-9 overall, the second most wins in program history.