KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Eight teams remain in NAIA men's basketball and third-seeded University of Pikeville and top-seeded LSU-Alexandria (La.) hope to reach the national semifinals when they meet at 6:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championship.
NAIANetwork.com will have a live stream of the game on a pay-per-view basis ($9.95 game/$29.95 tournament pass) and Z1075 FM in Pikeville will have the call on the air and online. There will also be live stats on the NAIA DakStats site and updates on Twitter @UPIKEAthletics.
UPIKE got here by outlasting No. 2-seed Columbia (Mo.) 56-51 on Friday, while LSU-Alexandria routed No. 5-seed Westmont (Calif.) 81-61 to remain undefeated at 33-0.
The Generals have held the No. 1 spot in the national rankings for the last five polls as they continue their staggering entrance into NAIA men's basketball that started in the 2014-15 season. Head coach Larry Cordaro has been there for all three seasons, amassing an 85-8 career record. He has twice been named National Coach of the Year, including this season.
LSU-Alexandria ranks fourth nationally in scoring margin by beating teams by nearly 17 points per game and it also ranks fourth in both field-goal percentage (50.4) and field-goal defense (39.6). The Generals share the ball well, ranking fifth in assists per contest at just over 18. Brian Sylvester is the catalyst of the strong shooting, ranking third in the NAIA in shooting percentage (61.0).
While Sylvester is the most accurate, reserve Brandon Moss is the team's leading scorer at 16.1 points per contest while shooting 57 percent from the field himself.
The Bears are playing in their 11th NAIA Tournament while extending their program-record run of five straight trips that started in 2013. UPIKE is 2-1 in the quarterfinal round, last reaching it in 2015 with a loss to Talladega (Ala.). UPIKE won its previous two quarterfinal games in 2001 and 2011, going on to win its only national title in the latter.
Clint Nwosuh had been the late-season sparkplug for the Bears, leading them in scoring in the last three games, including 13 against Columbia on Friday and 22 against Grand View (Iowa) in the opening round. Trey Rakes should enter with extra confidence as well as his 3 with 15 seconds left against Columbia thwarted its late comeback effort.
With the win over the Cougars, Rakes became the all-time wins leader at UPIKE with 112, passing current graduate assistant and former teammate Colt Chapman.
Saturday's winner advances to Monday's national semifinals to face either No. 1-seed Carroll (Mont.) or conference-foe No. 3-seed Life (Ga.) at 7 p.m.
-UPIKE-
