2024 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championship first Round Previews

“We’re excited for the opportunity to compete on the national stage,” coach Austin Johnson said. “Hope International is a very tough team.”

Johnson and LC State are familiar with the Royals as the two met in the Taco Bell Shootout on Nov. 25 in Caldwell, Idaho. Hope International were victorious in a 74-71 contest. A 3-pointer by Tristan Williams with two seconds remaining was the difference.

In the game back in November, all 11 Warriors who saw the floor scored. John Lustig and Alton Hamilton scored 10 points each. Gavin Ramirez led the Royals with 32 points, Williams finished with 16.

No. 11 Seed – LC State Warriors (22-8, 19-3)

LC State has been battle tested in the 2023-24 season. In eight losses this season, six of those were to teams that made the NAIA tournament. Half of those came before December. The Warriors made the tournament as an at-large bid after losing to No. 17 Oregon Tech in an 82-80 loss during the semifinals of the Cascade Conference tournament.

“Our guys have been through a lot of adversity this year and have really come together as a team,” Johnson said. “A lot of that is due to our three seniors, and in the postseason you need your seniors playing well to have a chance to win.”

Seniors Jaedon Bradley and Davian Brown have led LC State offensively this season. Bradley has a team-leading 14.6 points per game on 44.8% shooting. Brown is averaging 13 points per game, and his 87.1% free throw percentage is best on the team for any player that has at least 10 attempts. Both received All-CCC honors for their efforts this season. Alton Hamilton and Quentin Raynor were honorable mentions.

Bradley became the fifth Warrior to be voted Newcomer of the Year in a conference. The Denver, Colo., native followed Oreon Courtney as a recipient of the award in the Cascade Conference.

Sam Stockton has continued to fill up the stat sheet and late in the season became a strong scoring option in his own right. Stockton reached double-figures in points scored in six of the last seven games. The senior leads the Warriors in assists (81) steals (40) and is currently second behind Anthony Peoples Jr. with 23 blocks.

Hamilton was named the CCC Freshman of the Year, giving a player from LC State the award for the second consecutive year after John Lustig won it in 2023. Hamilton leads the team with 6.4 rebounds a game and brought down 75 offensive rebounds so far this season. The freshman recorded three double-doubles including an 18-point, 17-rebound performance against Northwest on Jan. 27.

Johnson took home his third conference Coach of the Year honor, second in the CCC.

The Warriors hit a 3-pointer 250 times on the year with 148 of those coming from Raynor and Bradley. Both Raynor and Bradley have made 74 each to lead any CCC shooter.

LC State’s last tournament appearance came in the 2021-22 season when LC lost to Jamestown (N.D.) in the opening round 84-70. It is the 18th appearance in the tournament for the Warriors.

“We’ll have to be the best version of ourselves to have a chance to win Friday,” Johnson said. “I’m excited to see how we respond.”

No. 6 Seed – Hope International (21-9, 9-5)

The Royals, out of Fullerton, Calif., earned an at-large bid after an overtime loss in the semifinals of the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament to No. 23 The Master’s University 95-88. It was the sixth time that Hope International played in an overtime contest this season.

Hope International has averaged 77.2 points per game with a margin of victory of +8.8 points per game. The key to the Royals’ game is their ability to steal the basketball. HIU recorded 315 steals in the season, 10.5 per game. Cameron Dashiell led the team with 66 steals.

“The Royals are physical and are elite defensively,” Johnson said. “Offensively they cause a lot of matchup problems.

Ramirez is the leading scorer for the Royals with 14.2 points per game. His 32 points against the Warriors in November was his season high. The senior averages 5.4 rebounds per game and has 50 assists on the season. Ramirez and Williams were named to the All-GSAC team. Head coach Bill Czech won his third Coach of the Year honor.

Gran Sii is strong off the bench for HIU. Sii started only three of the 21 games he has played but averages 12.7 points per game. The junior scored 21 points in the conference semifinal loss.

Hope International is making its second consecutive trip to the NAIA tournament and 10th all-time. The Royals were a No. 9 seed last year and lost in the first round to Xavier (La.) 95-57.

THE REST OF THE FIELD

The other matchup in the Butte, Mont., pod is between No. 14 Wayland Baptist (Texas) against No. 3 and host Montana Tech. The Orediggers finished the season 26-4 and won the Frontier Conference Championship. The Pioneers went 21-9 and reached the tournament as an at-large bid.

Montana Tech is making its third consecutive appearance in the tournament and fifth all-time. For Wayland Baptist it is the second consecutive time they have reached the tournament and 22nd overall.

The Orediggers and LC State met in the Montana Tech Fall Classic at Kelvin Sampson Court when Montana Tech earned a 79-55 victory on Nov. 17.

THE DETAILS

Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. PT on Friday in Butte. The contest will be streamed by Montana Tech and KOZE will pull a radio broadcast from Butte.

The winners of Friday’s contests advance to the NAIA Second Round in Butte on Saturday.

Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.

“We are very excited and very thankful for being able to host the first and second rounds of the national tournament,” Head Coach Caelyn Orlandi said. “This will be such a remarkable experience for our team. We need to stick to what we do best, trust each other, share the basketball, and enjoy every minute we get to compete. I look forward to the competition this weekend and getting to display Warrior basketball at a national level.”

LC State will also play host to fifth-seeded The Master’s (Calif.) and 12^th-seeded Jamestown (N.D.) on Friday at 7:30 p.m., with the winners facing off on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the Second Round.

General admission tickets, reserved seats and streaming passes are on sale now at lcwarriors.com. Season passes (including streaming passes) are not valid for postseason events. Tickets to the game can be purchased online or at the LC State Ticket Office.

No. 4 Seed – No. 11 LC State Warriors (25-5, 19-3)

Lewis-Clark State Women’s Basketball earned an automatic bid to the national tournament after advancing the Cascade Conference title game against No. 18 Southern Oregon. Though the Raiders won the title, the Warriors earned their place in the national tournament. This season marks the sixth straight trip to the national tournament for LC State Women’s Basketball and 26^th overall.

LC State has faced Brewton-Parker once in program history, also in the national tournament. The two squared off in 2006 with the Warriors earned an 80-63 win behind 30 points and 10 rebounds from Aundrea Morrison.

“Our team is really looking forward to playing new opponents,” Orlandi said. “Brewton-Parker brings a game that we haven’t faced this season. They shoot a plethora of 3-pointers and crash the glass efficiently. No team in the CCC shoots that many 3s. We will need to make sure our focus is defending at a high level and securing the rebound. We can expect long rebounds with teams that shoot 3-pointers and our guards will need to make sure they are rebounding before we look to push the basketball. They are extremely athletic, play up-tempo and bring tremendous energy.”

The Warriors are led by three-time Cascade Conference Player of the Year Callie Stevens, as well as First-Team All-CCC selection Ellie Sander. Senior Maddie Holm was also voted first-team all-conference, but will miss the postseason with injury.

Stevens has been LC State’s leading scorer for three years and has amassed 1,580 points in her three seasons. The senior is averaging 17.4 points per game while making 46.3% of her shots from the floor. Stevens leads LC State from 3-point range this season with 84 made triples.

Sander has had a breakthrough season all-around and leads the Warriors in assists this season with 114. She is the second-leading scorer on the team with 13.0 points per game, and pads the stat sheets with 3.6 rebounds per game. Sander is shooting 50.4% from the floor, 38.9% from 3-point range and 89.1% from the free throw line. She has totaled 66 steals and 16 blocks.

After Holm’s injury, Sitara Byrd stepped up to lead the Warriors defensively. The sophomore averages 6.8 boards per game with 203 total and leads LC State in steals with 70. She averages 8.7 points per game and scored a career-best 24 against No. 22 Oregon Tech in the CCC semifinal. Lindsey Wilson has also taken big strides in her career with a CCC-best .552 field goal percentage.

The freshmen duo of Darian Herring and Tatum Brager has provided much-needed depth to the LC State roster. Herring leads the team in blocked shots this year with 50 while averaging 7.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. She is also a great ball-handler and has dealt 65 assists, the most outside of Sander and Stevens. Brager has been lights-out from 3-point range with a .396 percentage on 36 made. She has provided a boost off the bench with clutch triples.

“Our focus is one game at a time, as it has been all season long,” Orlandi added. “All four teams here are great basketball teams and each bring something unique to the table.”

No. 13 Seed – Brewton-Parker Barons (19-12, 9-9)

The Barons of Brewton-Parker College enter the national tournament with an at-large bid out of the Southern State Athletic Conference. BPC advanced to the semifinal of the SSAC tournament and is making its sixth appearance in program history.

BPC won its first four games of the season and first five games of conference play before finishing the regular season with a 9-9 record in SSAC action. The Barons secured the No. 7 seed in the tournament and battled their way to the semifinal with an upset-win over No. 25 William Carey (Miss.) before falling to Mobile (Ala.).

Brewton-Parker’s Madison Evans earned First-Team All-SSAC honors for the third straight season and leads the Barons with 16.4 points per game. Primarily a threat inside the 3-point line, Evans is shooting 42.2% from the field and has a team-high 104 assists and 15 blocks this year.

Angel McRae was voted second-team all-conference for the third year in a row after leading the Barons’ defense with 10.9 rebounds per game and 52 steals. She averages 9.5 points per game with a .417 percentage from the field.

THE REST OF THE FIELD

No. 5-seed The Master’s will take on 12^th-seeded Jamestown on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the second first-round matchup. The Mustangs are led by GSAC Defensive Player of the Year Madeline Cooke, Freshman of the Year Nicole Chuang and fellow All-GSAC honoree Belle Hernandez.

Jamestown is led by First-Team All-GPAC selection Kate Cordes, second-team honorees Audrey Rodakowski and Kia Tower, and honorable mention selection Kate Busek. The winner of the matchup will face the winner of LC State and BPC.

THE DETAILS

Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. on Friday in the P1FCU Activity Center. The contest will be streamed on lcwarriors.com/watch and KOZE will produce a radio broadcast. Tickets and streaming packages are on sale now at lcwarriors.com.

The winners of Friday’s contests advance to the NAIA Second Round in Lewiston on Saturday at 7:30 pm.

Stay up to date with all things Warrior Athletics at lcwarriors.com and on social media @LCWarriors.