UAV Battles IWU in Opening Round Loss
Forced to play at their highest level, Indiana Wesleyan, the top seed in the Cramer bracket, finally pulled away from pesky and talented Antelope Valley to post an 87-76 victory in the first round of the NAIA Men's Division II Basketball National Championship in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The Wildcats got 33 points from talented junior big man Evan Maxwell and 21 more from freshman phenom Kyle Mangas, the Crossroads League Player of the Year, in their march to the second round where they will meet No.4 seed IU Southeast.
The Pioneers, tournament champions of the California Pacific Conference, proved their formidable intentions early on as the two teams swapped leads throughout the first twenty minutes. Ezekiel Armstrong's driving layup with 0:06 remaining in the first half sent the No. 8 seed into intermission with a 35-34 advantage. Armstrong was big off the bench for the Pioneers, pouring in a team-high eight points in the first half.
UAV shot the ball well, connecting on 50 percent of its shots from the floor, most notable from the 3-point line, draining a blistering 7-of-12 (58.3%) from beyond the arc. IWU, which shot 40.6 percent overall, was off the mark from deep, hitting only 2-of-9 from three.
IWU scored 31 points in the first 8:03 of the second half to apparently put the game away. However, the Pioneers, behind Cal Pac Player of the Year Sheldon Blackwell (16 points) and Miles Nolen-Webb (18 points) fought back, cutting a 16-point deficit to five.
Maxwell took over, however, from the interior and combined with Grant Smith (10 points, 6 assists) and Ben Carlson (8 second half points) to right the ship for the Wildcats.
IWU, regular season and tournament champions of the Crossroads League, take a 27-7 record into Friday's 4 PM match up against IU Southeast.
UAV, which won the Cal Pac regular season and the conference tournament crown in only its third season at the collegiate level, finishes a record-setting campaign at 20-8.