NAIA basketball tournament semifinals set for Monday at KC’s Municipal Auditorium
Monday’s semifinal lineup is set at the 86th NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament in Kansas City.
Freed-Hardeman will take on Grace and Langston will meet the defending champion College of Idaho in the final four at KC’s Municipal Auditorium.
In Saturday’s quarterfinal-round games, Freed-Hardeman of Tennessee defeated Central Baptist of Arkansas 85-74; Grace (Indiana) downed Evangel 83-76; Langston (Oklahoma) beat Indiana Wesleyan 61-48; and the College of Idaho outlasted Morningside (Iowa) 73-56.
Those results set up a semifinal round for Monday evening that looks like this: Freed-Hardeman will play Grace at 5 p.m., followed by College of Idaho vs. Langston at 7 p.m.
The winners will play for the 2024 NAIA championship Tuesday evening at Municipal Auditorium.
Here are recaps from Saturday’s action:
Langston 61, Indiana Wesleyan 48
Playing tough defense from the start, top-seeded Langston (34-1) led just 37-25 at halftime. But the second half was a different story.
Langston held No. 2 Indiana Wesleyan to its lowest-scoring output of the season, including a dismal 1 for 8 from 3-point range.
Said Langston coach Chris Wright: “We were locked in, and to do that to a team that averages over 90 points a game says a lot about the character of our guys.”
Cortez Mosley paced the Lions with 15 points; Anthony Roy added 13. Langston also succeeded in holding Summit Christian Academy product Griffin Kliewer — who scored 26 in Indiana Wesleyan’s Round of 32 game — to seven.
College of Idaho 73, Morningside 56
The Yotes from Idaho broke it open after halftime.
After playing to a slim 30-27 lead through the first half, College of Idaho (32-3) outscored the Mustangs 43-29. The Yotes owned the glass, too, outrebounding their foes from Iowa 40-19.
Samaje Morgan led Idaho with 24 points, Johnny Radford added 12 and Tyler Robinett chipped in 10. Joey Skoff and Daniel Brocaille scored 16 apiece for Morningside.
Freed-Hardeman 85, Central Baptist 74
The eventual victors from Freed-Hardeman (30-4) held a 46-30 lead at intermission and then held off Central Baptist’s stiff challenge in the second half.
Quan Lax and Sam Powell led Freed-Hardeman with 16 points apiece. Deshawn Corprew scored 12 for Central Baptist (28-7)
Grace 83, Evangel 76
The biggest quarterfinal-seeding disparity produced Saturday’s closest finish. And top-seeded Grace had to fight with all its might to hold off the 15-seed from Springfield.
Carson Cavalier was a spark with a team-high 21 points off the bench for Grace (34-1).
Elijah Malone and Ian Scott put in 16 apiece for No. 15 seed Evangel (21-11), but the Valor struggled on the glass, pulling down 28 rebounds to Grace’s 44.
