NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship Semifinals Recap
Mar 17, 2023
Men’s Basketball – College of Idaho
KANSAS CITY, Mo. If the phrase “survive and advance” sums-up the month of March, it certainly applied to the first game of the night in the semifinal round of the 2023 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship. Down by 23 points at one point, OUAZ (Ariz.) scratched and clawed its way back to a thrilling finish, but the comeback bid came-up just sort as top-seeded College of Idaho had just enough to punch its ticket to the championship final with a 73-72 win to open play. Indiana Tech also provided heroics thanks in large part to erasing a 16-point deficit to knock-off Georgetown (Ky.) and earn the final spot in Saturday’s final game.
Quarterfinal Round Results – Day Three | March 15, 2023
- No. 1 College of Idaho def. No. 7 OUAZ (Ariz.) 73-72
- No. 2 Indiana Tech def. No. 3 Georgetown (Ky.) 80-71
Championship Matchup | March 18, 2023
No. 1 College of Idaho vs. No. 2 Indiana Tech | 7:00 p.m. CT
News and Notes
Game 13 – College of Idaho vs. OUAZ (Ariz.)
College of Idaho – No. 1 (Naismith)
– College of Idaho extends their win-streak to 35 games in a row and now stand at 35-1.
– The Yotes made their 4th appearance in the NAIA Men’s Basketball Semifinals and they advance to their second appearance in the National Championship. They have one NAIA National Championship from 1996.
-The Yotes defeat OUAZ for the second time during the 2022-23 season.
-COI after tonight has an average margin of victory of 19.6 through five games of the NAIA National Tournament
-Charles Elzie led the scoring effort for the Yotes with 21 points, finishing above his final site tournament average of 18 points per game.
– Samaje Morgan and Drew Wyman both go over 10 points with 13 and 11 point nights, while their teammate Straton Rogers had a game-leading 11 rebounds.
-As a team the Yotes shot 43.5-percent from the field
OUAZ – No. 7 (Cramer)
– The Spirit appear in their first NAIA National Semifinals in program history and end their season at 25-10.
-The Spirit were riding a seven game win-streak entering the semifinals
– Josiah De’laCerda came into the semifinals averaging 17 points per game at the final site of the tournament and went above his tournament average with 21 points, going 5-of-9 from three-point range, and the earning a double-double with 10 rebounds.
-The Spirit were right at their tournament shooting average of 36.2-percent and shot 36.4-percent from the field.
-OUAZ held the Yotes to their lowest points so far through the NAIA Tournament
-Alex Villi and Kolten Hitt had 15 or more points at 17 and 15 in the semis.
Game 14 – Indiana Tech vs. Georgetown (Ky.)
Indiana Tech – No. 2 (Liston)
-The Warriors continue a historic chapter in 2023 with their most wins in program history with a 32-4 record.
-The Warriors extend their winning streak to 5 games.
-Indiana Tech reached the semifinal stage of the NAIA tournament for the first time in program history by completing a 16 point comeback.
-In this year’s tournament, the Warriors held opponents to 59.5 points per game before their matchup with the Tigers. After tonight they have kept opponents scores down to 61.8 per game.
-Steady offensive production came up and down the Warriors’ lineup with seven players at 8 or more points. Josh Kline and Grant Smith led Indiana Tech’s scoring with 15 points each.
-16 second chance points favored the Warriors, while the Tigers only earned five of the same.
-Indiana Tech was more efficient from behind the arc with at 5-of-13 performance, 38.5-percent.
-14 assists favored Indiana Tech as well with only five being registered for the Tigers.
Georgetown – No. 3 (Duer)
-Georgetown falls to 30-6 to complete the season, ending a four-game winning streak.
-The Tigers made their 16th appearance in the NAIA National Championship Semifinals.
-Georgetown had two scorers in the top five among the final site tournament field. Jake Ohmer averaged 25 points per game and Kyran Jones put up 22.5 points per game. Ohmer lived up to expectation and was the only player to reach 20 points to lead the Tigers in scoring.
-Jones earned his third straight double-double of the tournament and finished with 12 points, 16 rebounds in the semifinal matchup.
-Coming into their semifinal matchup, the Tigers averaged 77 points per game against the 2023 NAIA national tournament field, but were held slightly below this number against the Warriors