Shawnee State, Lewis-Clark State advance to championship game of NAIA tournament in KC
The team from Portsmouth, Ohio might not lose again. But don’t count out the squad from Lewiston, Idaho, either. These two men’s basketball programs, after all, have just three losses between them all season.
The team from Ohio, Shawnee State (30-2), advanced to the NAIA tournament championship game with a 82-77 win over Saint Francis (Ind.) Monday night at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
Shawnee State will meet No. 3 seed Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), an 83-56 winner over seventh-seeded SAGU (Texas) — the largest victory margin in this year’s tournament so far — for the title Tuesday in a game that’s scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
Fifth-seeded Shawnee State (30-2), which got 17 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds from senior wing James Jones and 19 points and eight rebounds from Donoven Carlisle, has now won 26 games in a row.
Senior Shawnee State swingman Kobie Johnson added 14 points off the bench, going 4-of-7 from beyond the three-point line with seven rebounds, and 6-foot-11 senior big man EJ Onu finished with 10 points and nine blocks. Onu has blocked 28 shots through three tournament games in KC.
Antwaan Cushingberry had 22 points and Dan McKeeman 16 for ninth-seeded Saint Francis (27-9).
In the night’s second semifinal at Municipal, Hodges Bailey scored 25 to lead Lewis-Clark State (21-1) past SAGU. The first six made shots were three-pointers as Lewis-Clark led 12-6 early and 50-35 at halftime.
Damek Mitchell contributed 16 points and eight steals, Travis Yenor scored 14 and Trystan Bradley added 13 for the victorious Warriors. Noah Boling led SAGU (13-2) with 11 points and Joshua Kashila added 10.
Both Shawnee State and Lewis-Clark State will be playing in their first NAIA championship game.
In the women’s Final Four at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa, top-seeded Thomas More (Ky.) held on to beat seventh-seeded Morningside (Iowa) 65-62 in the first semifinal.
Junior guard Taylor Clos had 14 points and five assists, sophomore guard Emily Simon scored 11 points with three rebounds and sophomore guard Zoie Barth had seven points, 14 rebounds and seven assists for Thomas More (29-1).
Like Shawnee State, Thomas More is on a roll, having won 14 straight games.
Morningside (29-3) got a game-high 27 points from Sierra Mitchell.
Second-seeded Westmont (Calif.) beat No. 11 seed Indiana Wesleyan 74-65 in the second semifinal. Guard Stefanie Berberabe led Westmont (14-1) with 26 points; Kaitlin Larson added 15 points and 14 rebounds and Lauren Tsuneishi chipped in 11 points.
Dayton Groninger led Indiana Wesleyan (25-7) with 16 points, Jordan Reid added 15 and Gabby Suarez had 11.
Thomas More and Westmont play for the NAIA women’s championship Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 8:05 PM.