See which teams advanced to Wednesday’s NAIA quarterfinals at KC’s Municipal Auditorium

Kansas City Star
·2 min read

Georgetown of Kentucky led the day two charge into the quarterfinals of the NAIA Men’s Basketball Championship tournament on Tuesday, beating Langston (Oklahoma) 74-60 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

The Tigers of Georgetown (31-3), which last won the NAIA championship in 2019, got 21 points and 15 rebounds from Kyran Jones, as well as 17 points from Jake Ohmer and 10 apiece from Cam Brooks-Harris and Tommy Thomas.

Langston (29-5) shot just 32.7% from the floor. Its leading scorers were Tristan Harper with 22, Toru Dean with 14 and AJ Rainey with 11.

In other NAIA Sweet 16 games Tuesday:

Grace (Indiana) 86, Freed-Hardeman (Tennessee) 67: Elijah Malone (19 points) led five players in double figures as Grace (31-3) ousted Freed-Hardeman (25-9) to advance to Wednesday quarterfinals. Jakob Gibbs added 16, Cade Gibbs 14, Frankie Davidson 11 and Jake Wadding 11 with 12 rebounds. Peyton Law scored 16 and Brandon Thomas 13 for Freed-Hardeman.

Indiana Tech 61, Jamestown (North Dakota) 51: Rog Stein scored 17 points as Indiana Tech (30-4) cruised past Jamestown. Mason Walters poured in 26 points, Cole Woodford added 13 and Reid Gastner pulled down 16 rebounds for the Jimmies, whose season finishes at 27-7.

Arizona Christian 85, Morningside (Iowa) 63: Arizona Christian (27-5) raced to a 42-26 halftime lead and never looked back in eliminating Morningside (24-8) in the final round-of-16 game. The victorious Firestorm shot it very well (58%) and scored 18 points off 15 Mustangs turnovers. Bryce Davis had 16 points for Arizona Christian, with Angelo Johnson and Trent Hudgens adding 14, Dennis Flowers III 12 and KeyVaughn Williams 10. Jack Dotzler had 14, Joey Skoff 12 and Brendan Buckley 11 for Morningside.

The tournament’s quarterfinal round is Wednesday, with the semifinals scheduled for Friday and championship game Saturday (on ESPN3).

Here are the quarterfinal pairings:

  • Tougaloo (Miss.) vs. College of Idaho, 1 p.m.

  • OUAZ vs. Montana Tech, 3 p.m.

  • Georgetown (Ky.) vs. Grace (Ind.), 5 p.m.

  • Arizona Christian vs. Indiana Tech, 7 p.m.

The NAIA tournament is steeped in history. Basketball inventor James Naismith, along with hoops hall of famer and Baker University athletic director Emil Liston and entrepreneur Frank Cramer, saw the need for a postseason college basketball tournament nearly 100 years ago.

The first event tipped off in 1937, making it college basketball’s longest continuously running championship. It’s been contested here in Kansas City for more than a half-century.

The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff contributed to this report.