KANSAS CIY, MO: The 10th ranked Texas Wesleyan University men's basketball team (25-7) opened their 2017 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Tournament run with a 74-68 victory over No. 22 University of the Cumberlands (22-9) at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium on Thursday.
With the victory, the three-seed Rams advance to take on the winner of tonight's 2-8 matchup between second seeded The Master's College (CA) and eighth seeded Benedictine College (KS). That second-round contest will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
On Thursday, the Rams were bucking out of the gate. The game started with a slam from
Najeal Young, and the Rams stormed out to a 15-point (23-8) advantage.
The Patriots regrouped and rattled off an 8-2 run to cut the margin to single digits. Cumberlands got as close as 29-24 before the Rams closed strong and went to the locker room up 35-26.
The Patriots got hot and found their stride defensively in the second half. Cumberlands opened the period with a 10-1 run to take their first lead of the game at 38-36 with 15 minutes to play.
The game went back-and-forth for the next eight minutes. A pair of free throws from young and triples from
Jeremy Crane and
Ryan Harris accounted for an 8-2 run that finally gave the Rams some separation at 66-60 with 4:50 on the clock. The Rams hit 4-of-6 free throws in the closing seconds to hold on and win by that margin at 74-68.
"Getting this first win is a huge relief because this is where we wanted and expected to be," commented Head Coach
Brennen Shingleton. "The challenge was to get this first one out of the way so our players know what it takes. We didn't play well and made a lot of mistakes, but we'll regroup and get ready to play tomorrow."
After shooting 47% in the first half the Rams finished at 43% for the game. They held Cumberlands to 31% shooting in the first half and 40% overall. The Rams were +11 in the rebound column, and they were a solid 73% (15-20) at the free throw line.
Dion Rogers led the way with 19 points and nine boards.
Ryan Harris supplied 16 points off the bench.
Najeal Young finished with 12 points, and
Trevon Jeffery posted 10 points.
Naiel Smith gathered 10 rebounds to go with two points and three assists.
Cumberlands was led by a 22-point 10-rebound effort from Chance Morton. Marquis Yates also posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.
Ramblings
- The Rams, in their 15
th NAIA National Tournament appearance now hold an all-time record of 14-13 with one title (2006).
- This was the first ever meeting between Texas Wesleyan and Cumberlands.
