Missouri Valley men take Heart of America tourney title

Missouri Valley’s men are heading to the NAIA tournament.

Byron Cooke drove to the basket and hit the go-ahead shot with 29.2 seconds left in overtime in a 63-61 win over Evangel for the Heart of America Athletic Conference tournament title Tuesday in Springfield.

He hit a go-ahead jumper with with 40 seconds remaining against MidAmerica Nazarene in the quarterfinals.

Missouri Valley, which won its first conference tournament championship, received the automatic bid into the NAIA Division I men’s basketball tournament March 18-24 at Municipal Auditorium. The NAIA men’s and women’s bracket will be announced Wednesday. The women’s tournament will be played the same days at Independence Events Center.

In the Heart women’s tourney, Benedictine beat host MidAmerica Nazarene 56-49 on Monday for its first title since 2006.

NCAA Division II tournament

Four men’s and women’s teams from the Kansas City area qualified for the Division II men’s and women’s tournaments.

The women start Friday. In the Midwest Region quarterfinals, No. 3 seed Drury, 26-3, play No. 6 seed Wayne State (Mich), at 11 a.m. in Houghton, Mich. In the Central Region quarterfinals at Hays, Kan., No. 3 seed Pittsburg State, 26-6, faces No. 6 seed Northern State (S.D.), 26-6, at noon; No. 2 seed Emporia State, 24-4, plays No. 7 seed Arkansas Tech, 23-5, at 2:30 p.m.; and No. 1 seed Fort Hays State, 28-2, faces No. 8 seed Minnestota State-Mankato, 21-9, at 5 p.m.

The men start Saturday. In the Midwest Region quarterfinals, No. 8 seed Drury, 21-8, faces No. 1 seed and host Bellarmine, 27-3, at 5 p.m. in Louisville, Ky. In the Central Region quarterfinals in Sioux Falls, S.D., No. 3 seed Central Missouri, 24-6, plays No. 6 seed Northern State (S.D.), 23-8, at noon; No. 7 seed Pittsburg State, 20-11, faces No. 2 seed Minnesota State-Morehead, 32-3, at 2:30 p.m.; and No. 4 seed Northwest Missouri, 23-6, meets No. 5 seed Minnesota State-Mankato, 24-7, at 8 p.m.

Penn Valley men in tourney

Penn Valley Community College has qualified for the NJCAA Division II men’s basketball tournament.

The Scouts will face Richard Bland (Va.), the No. 3 overall seed, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 17, in Danville, Ill., to open the 16-team tournament.

This story was originally published March 10, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Missouri Valley men take Heart of America tourney title."