Waxahachie, TX – SAGU Men's Basketball has earned the No. 3 seed in the Liston Quadrant at the 2022 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round and will face Central Methodist of Fayette, Missouri, on Friday, March 11, at 7:30 PM in the Sheaffer Center Arena. The Lions earned the No. 3 seed after finishing the 2021-22 season with an overall record of 22-8 and 16-6 in conference play; SAGU also took the 2022 Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Championship. The Lions return to the dance after making a Fab Four run in the 2021 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship.
The CMU Eagles took the No. 11 seed in the Liston Quadrant after earning an at-large berth as they advanced to the semifinals of the Heart of America Conference Tournament and finished with an overall record of 22-10 and a conference record of 12-7. CMU will participate in the national tournament for the first time since 2018, where they advanced to the round of sixteen.
SAGU Head Coach Delton Deal
Fifth Season with SAGU
Current 2021-22 record: 22-8
Career Record: 240-128
SAGU Record: 103-40
Sooner Athletic Regular Season Champion (2020-21)
Sooner Athletic Tournament Champion (2019-20)
Sooner Athletic Tournament Champion (2017-18)
NAIA National Tournament Fab Four (2020-21)
Three Current NAIA All-Americans –
Joshua Kashila,
Nykolas Mason,
Joel Polius
Coach Deal has been at the helm of the SAGU Men's Basketball program since 2017. During his time with SAGU he has amassed a record of 103-40, and during the 2020-21 season he took SAGU to the NAIA National Tournament Fab Four for the second time in program history. Coach Deal is currently coaching three NAIA All-Americans at SAGU, which include
Joshua Kashila,
Nykolas Mason, and
Joel Polius. In 2019-20, he led the Lions to a SAC Tournament title, and in 2020-21 SAGU was crowned the SAC regular season champions. Before coming to SAGU, Coach Deal spent seven years as the head coach at York College where he led his team to the NAIA Division II tournament three times. In 2016, the Panthers made it to the round of eight in the National Tournament. Upon taking over York College in 2010, the Panthers had only one winning season in school history. Coach Deal led York to seven consecutive winning seasons. Before York College, Deal coached at Bethesda Christian School in Fort Worth, Texas. Over his four years at Bethesda, he had a 97-28 record. In 2007, he won the TAPPS 3A State Championship and was named the State Coach of the Year. Coach Deal currently has a collegiate record of 240-128.
CMU Head Coach Jeff Sherman
Jeff Sherman is entering his 37th season as the head coach of the Central Methodist Men's Basketball program. He is the longest-tenured and winningest coach in the history of Central Methodist University and one of the longest tenured Collegiate Basketball Coaches in the nation.
Sherman is currently ranked 7th as the winningest active NAIA Basketball Coach in the nation and ranks 6th on the all-time winningest basketball coaches in the state of Missouri history among four-year colleges with 646 victories. Sherman has represented the Heart of America as National NAIA rater for the past 13 years and begins his second year as a member of the Arc and National Selection Committee for determining teams for the NAIA National Tournament.
Fast breaks, multiple offensive and defensive schemes are among Sherman's favorite tactics. Under Sherman's direction, Central Methodist has become one of the storied programs within the NAIA. CMU is currently the #9 All-Time Winningest NAIA Program in the country and the 5th Active winningest NAIA Program with 1426 victories.
A few highlights over Coach Sherman career include eight conference Coach of the Year Honors, the 2018 Heart of America Conference Coach of Character award, (12) 20-win seasons, one 30-win season, four conference titles, one divisional title, five NAIA National Tournament bids, three sweet 16 finishes and 14 seasons with top 25 national rankings. The Eagles highest national ranking came in 1998 holding the #2 spot for three weeks finishing the season 26-8. Sherman also received the CMC's Young Alumni Award in 1998 and holds both Associate Professor and Head Basketball Coaching status at the university.
SAGU's Impact Players
Senior combo guard
Nykolas Mason was selected as first team all-conference for the 2021-22 season. The 6'6, Frisco, Texas, product was selected first team all-conference after averaging 18.7 points per game, which was good enough for second in the SAC only behind the SAC player of the year Cameron Hines. Mason also ranked second in the SAC in field goal percentage as he shot 55% from the floor throughout the year. Mason had a game high 32 points against No. 10 Science and Arts on November 20 where he sunk a layup and a free throw with just seven seconds left to overtake the Drovers 91-88.
Senior guard
Joshua Kashila was selected as first team all-conference for the 2021-22 season. The 6'3, Angola, Luanda, product was selected first team all-conference after averaging 15.7 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, and 3.4 assists per game; he also had a 41% field goal percentage throughout the year. Kashila ranked in the top eleven of the conference for all four categories. He had a game high 30 points on October 28 in the season opener against Dallas Christian College.
Senior guard
Isaiah Boling was honored with the Sooner Athletic Conference Sportsmanship Award for the first time in his career during the 2021-22 campaign; he was also named as an honorable mention all-conference player. The 6'3, Van Alstyne, Texas, product was the third most prolific scorer for the Lions, averaging 10.2 points per game while shooting 42% from the field and 36% from three. On the year, he made 51 three pointers and averaged 2.2 three pointers made per game to lead the Lions. He also dished out the third-most assists on the squad with 56. As a senior and captain, Boling led SAGU both on and off the court.
Finally, senior forward
Nathan Bailey was selected to be on the all-defensive team for the 2021-22 season. Bailey led a SAGU defense that ranked third in the conference in steals per game with 8.52, second in rebounds per game with 40.4, and third in defensive rebounds per game with 29.1. Bailey himself pulled in 85 defensive rebounds on the year, averaging 5.8 rebounds per game and added 28 steals and 9 blocks on the year.
2021-22 SAGU Season Stats
CMU Impact Players
Four members of the Central Methodist men's basketball program were recognized as Heart All-Conference performers.
Jonathan Brown was tabbed as a first-team all-conference performer, while senior forward Fode Camara was named to the second team. Isaiah May and Tim Cameron rounded out the selections, as both were recognized as honorable mention members.
Brown has appeared in 29 games with 28 starts for Central Methodist and has led the offense with 18.4 points per game, including a 37.4 shooting percentage from long range. The London, England, native tallied 14 20-plus scoring performances in the regular season, including a career-high 35 in Central's 79-73 upset win over No. 3 William Penn back on Dec. 8.
Camara lands on the second team after earning honorable mention honors in 2021. In addition to the second team recognition, Camara also earned a spot on the Heart's first-ever All-Defensive Team. The senior from Queens, New York nearly averaged a double-double with 11.0 points and 8.7 rebounds/game. He also tallied 1.8 steals and 0.9 blocks per game in 26 appearances and 25 starts.
May has appeared and started in all 30 games for Central. He has nearly averaged double figures with 9.7 points per game and has proven to be one of the Eagles best sharpshooters, converting on a team-leading 39.5-percent of his three-point attempts. He has reached double figures on 18 different occasions, including a 20-point performance against Benedictine College on Feb. 3.
Cameron rounds out the all-conference selections for CMU as he was recognized as an honorable mention performer. The Senior from Norcross, Georgia, was voted as the Heart Defensive Player of the Year after leading the Eagles with 2.6 steals per game in 26 games.
He averaged 11.5 points per game. Cameron's finest moment for the Eagles came against Madonna University on Dec. 18, as he recorded a triple double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
2021-22 CMU Season Stats
Tickets are available for purchase online at the link below.
SAGU Athletic Ticketing
The cost of entry for the Friday, March 11, games will be $12, and by purchasing one ticket all fans will be able to attend both games played that night. The cost of entry for the Saturday, March 12, game will be $10. The Friday day passes will not carry over to the Saturday game. Family passes will also be available for purchase for families of three or more. Each family pass will be $25.
All SAGU students, faculty, and staff will be granted free admission into the games.
The SAGU Sports Network will broadcast each opening round game hosted at SAGU free of charge. The broadcast will be available on the SAGU Sports Network's YouTube, Facebook, and Livestream page. Live statistics will also be made available for each game. You can find the live coverage links for the CMU vs. SAGU Opening Round game below
Friday, March 12, at 7:30 PM – No. 11 CMU vs. No. 6 SAGU
SAGU Sports Network Broadcast –
Live Statistics
The winner of the CMU vs. SAGU Opening Round game will advance to the final opening round game to be played on Saturday, March 12, at 5:30 PM in the Sheaffer Center Arena.
The winner of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round hosted by SAGU will advance to the 2022 NAIA National Championship Final Site in Kansas City, Missouri, at the 84
th annual NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship, March 17-22. For more information on the national championship, click
here.
As a leading Christian university, SAGU educates and prepares individuals who want to serve Christ and others. SAGU helps students discover and develop their God-given callings in a Spirit-empowered, learning community. We believe in affordable tuition, made possible in part through the financial support of donors who embrace the mission of SAGU and the importance of affordable, accredited programs to train Christians for leadership in ministry, business, education, and service. Most majors are available in-person in Waxahachie, TX, and online through a wide range of associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.
