Tournament Bracket

By Ron Smith
March 8, 2017
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The 2017 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship bracket has been released and #19 Westmont Men's Basketball will square off with William Carey (Miss.) in the first round. The two teams have identical 24-7 records. Carey was designated as the #4 seed in the Naismith Bracket while Westmont was tagged as the #5 seed.
 
This marks the first time in program history that Westmont has qualified for national championship play three years in a row. Two year ago, Westmont reached the championship game before falling to Dalton State (Ga.) in the title game.
 
"This is by far the most experienced team we have had go to the national championship," said Westmont head coach John Moore. "We have the benefit of going three years running. I think our best basketball has been played at the tournament the last three years."
 
The William Carey Crusaders, ranked at number 14 in the Final NAIA Coaches Poll, compete in the Southern States Athletic Conference in which they tied #3 Dalton State (24-7) for first place in the regular season with a conference record of 16-4. The two teams met up in the SSAC Tournament final where Dalton State prevailed 90-80.
 
"We get to play an outstanding William Carey team that is well coached," said Moore. "Aside from (Biola's) Dave Holmquist, Steve Knight is probably the only coach in the tournament that has coached longer than I have. He is in his 35th year. He is also a very good friend and a guy I admire greatly. They will be an extremely challenging first round match-up, but every one of the teams would have been."
 
On average, the Crusaders outscore their opponents by a score of 86.8 to 77.0. Carey shoots 45.4 percent from the floor including .360 percent from 3-point range. The Crusaders have outrebounded their opponents by an average of 4.9 boards per game.
 
The Crusaders are led in scoring by senior Leo Garrett who averages 16.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. Garrett averages 42.5 percent from the floor (151 of 355) and .354 percent (63 of 178) from beyond the arc. Senior guard Ashton Woodson is averaging 12.7 points per game and averaging 45.7 percent (118 to 258) including a 3-point percentage of .355 (38 of 107).
 
Also averaging double figures is junior guard Troy Salvant (11.9 points per game) who mostly comes into the game from off the bench. Salvant's field goal percentage is 40.8 (118 of 289) and a nearly identical 40.7 from downtown (70 of 172). Junior point guard Jaylen Moore tallies a 10.5 point per game average while making 46.2 percent of his attempts (26 of 61) from the floor and 35.9 percent (14 of 39) from 3-point range.
 
Under the basket, senior forward Terrance Mujahid leads the way averaging 9.8 points per game and a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game. Mujahid claims a 58.2 percent shooting accuracy.
 
The Warriors and Crusaders will face off on Thursday, March 16 at 10:45 a.m. CDT (8:45 a.m. PDT) on the second day of first round play.
 
"I like it when you play your first game on Thursday,' said Moore, "because you have a chance to get your feet on the ground and watch the tournament in action.
 
"The hardest game to win at the tournament is the first-round game. We are not looking ahead at all. Last year we looked ahead a little bit and it hurt us. I met with our seniors on Monday afternoon and said, 'we are going back there to win one game.' We are not concerned at all with the second round."
 
Should the Warriors prevail, their second-round opponent will be the winner between #1 Louisiana State Alexandria (31-0), the overall number one seed, and #8 Science and Arts of Oklahoma (19-13). That game will be played at 4:00 p.m. CDT (2:00 p.m. PDT) on Friday, March 17.
 
Three other Golden State Athletic Conference teams were extended invitations to the dance. Fifth-ranked Hope International (25-7) is the number two seed in the Cramer Bracket and will take on seventh-seeded Wiley of Texas (23-9), the NAIA's 25th-ranked team.
 
Twelfth-ranked Biola (26-5) received a number three seed in the Duer Bracket and will play 21st-ranked and sixth-seeded Langsten of Oklahoma (22-9). GSAC Tournament champion The Master's (26-4), the NAIA's eighth-ranked team, is the second-seeded team in the Liston Bracket and will face Benedictine of Kansas (21-10).