SILOAM SPRINGS, AR: The 15th ranked Texas Wesleyan University Men's Basketball team (22-10) suffered an 89-79 loss against No. 24 Southwestern Assemblies of God University (23-9) in semifinal action at the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday.
The fourth seeded Lions advance to Saturday's SAC Championship game where they will meet third seeded Wayland Baptist University.
This was Texas Wesleyan's third consecutive appearance in the SAC Semifinals. Last season, they were eliminated by USAO, but went on to win the NAIA Division I National Championship. They were facing SAGU for the third time this season after taking both regular season meetings with the Lions.
Texas Wesleyan has already earned an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City by winning its third consecutive SAC Regular Season Championship.
Both teams struggled to find their shot on Friday. The Rams shot just 39% from the floor, while SAGU hit at a 40.5% clip. SAGU snared eight more rebounds than the Rams and got to the free throw line for 13 more attempts.
After the two teams traded punches in the early going, the Rams ripped off eight unanswered points capped by a three from Ryan Harris to jump out to a 23-15 lead. SAGU got hot and outscored the Rams 36-16 over the remainder of the period, while going 8-for-10 at the free throw line.
The Rams cut the margin to single digits (68-60) with a bucket from Rob Thomas with 8:48 to play, then clawed to within six (70-64) with a pair of free throws by Harris 38 seconds later. That margin held at 81-75, but the Rams could never get closer as SAGU closed out the 89-79 victory.
Ryan Harris led the Rams with 21 points, while Rob Thomas finished with 17. Branden Jenkins finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Curtiss Anderson (9 points, 11 rebounds) just missed a double-double as well.
SAGU's Josh Swearingin led all scorers with 24 points.
The bracket for the 2018 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship will be released on Wednesday, March 7. The selection show will air on the PlayNAIA Facebook page at 7:00 pm.
Ramblings
- The Rams lead the all-time series with SAGU 30-10. They fell to 3-5 all-time in SAC Tournament play.
- Texas Wesleyan has won three consecutive SAC Regular Season Championships, going 41-15 in league play during that span.
- The Rams will be making their 16th appearance in the NAIA National Tournament. They hold a record of 18-13 at the tournament having won championships in 2006, and 2017. Their tournament history dates back to the 4th NAIB Tournament in 1940 when they reached the quarterfinals. They have advanced to the round of 16, nine times, the quarterfinals 4 times, semifinals twice, and championship game twice where they closed out a pair of titles.
