|
03.02.06
- The NAIA National Tournament pairings were
released and there was no surprise for the 2nd-ranked Foresters
(28-5), who drew the second seed in the pairings. Making their
sixth trip to Branson in seven years, the Foresters will face
Fisher College (16-14) of Boston, Massachusetts in first round
action on Thursday, March 9 at 4:00 p.m. (CST). [Listen
to
Live Broadcast on WQHU]
The Falcons
received the Sunrise Conference's automatic bid by upsetting Lyndon
State College 83-70 in the conference's championship game.
Embry Riddle (30-2) garnered the
tournaments' top seed and will begin play against Sterling College
(16-14) on Wednesday at noon (CST). Walsh University (25-6), the
defending National Champions, received the third seed, which puts them
on HU's half of the bracket.
In their opening
match-up, the Foresters will have to contend with a very athletic
Fisher squad that holds the sixth spot in NAIA Division II with their
10.9 steals per game. Two Falcons are averaging over 20 points
per game and two others are at just under 10. Michael Newcombe,
a 6'1 junior guard, ranks second in Division II with his 25.8 points
per game and had individual games of 50 points and 46 points during
Fisher's regular season play. Senior Steve Perry, a 6'2
guard/forward, averages 22.6 points per game, which puts him seventh
in Division II statistics. Perry dropped in a season-high 40
points against the University of Maine Machias.
The Foresters have
a trio of double digit scorers with junior Alex Kock, the MCC
Co-Player of the Year, leading the team at 20.7 points per game.
Kock had three games of 30 or more points during the regular season.
Junior Kyle Ganton, who is tops in Division II in 3-point field goal
percentage at 51% and 6th in free throw shooting at 87%, averages 18.4
points each game, and sophomore Doug Sheckler adds 11.7 per contest.
HU also will enter the tournament with the best team free throw
percentage in Division II at 78.6%.
Fisher scores an
average of 80.6 points per game and gives up 74.3 to opponents while
the Foresters score 82.0 points and allow 69.6. The Falcons
commit 15.1 turnovers a game to 13.1 for HU and both teams average 36
rebounds a game. The winner of the game will face the winner of
the Evangel University (26-6) / Bellevue University (24-7) game at
5:45 p.m. (CST) on Friday, March 10.
The Foresters'
games can be heard on Huntington's own radio station
The Fuse 105.5 FM
and on WKUZ 95.5 FM.
Complete
Tournament Bracket |
