Waxahachie, TX – The SAGU Men's Basketball team will take on the Thomas More Saints of Crestview Hills, Kentucky, on Friday, March 18, at 3pm in NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament Round of 16. The host site will be the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.
 
Live coverage of the game will be available at the link below. The NAIA Network will broadcast all 14 games live at the 2022 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship final site in Kansas City, Missouri. The National Championship game will be broadcast live on ESPN 3 at 7:01 PM CT. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users to access live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-championship tournament package is available for $34.95.
 
Friday, March 18
Kansas City, MO - 3:00 PM CT
SAGU v. Thomas More
 
Live Statistics              NAIA Broadcast
 
Thomas More
 
The Saints are coming into the final site as the No. 2 seed in the Liston Quadrant after defeating Grand View and Stillman in the NAIA Championship Tournament Opening Round. Thomas More currently has 29-4 overall record after winning the Mid-South Conference regular season championship but losing in the championship game of the Mid-South Conference tournament. The Saint ended the regular season ranked No. 5 in the 2021-22 NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Final Poll on February 23, 2022. The Saints are led by the Mid-South Conference Player of the Year, Ryan Batte, who is averaging 21.2ppg, 7.1rpg, and 2.8apg.
 
Thomas More's Impact Players
 
#14 Jacob Jones (SR, 5'9) – 9.5ppg, 2.7rpg, 3.1apg
#2 Luke Rudy (GR, 6'5) – 10.6ppg, 3.0rpg
#3 Reid Jolly (SO, 6'5) – 13.3ppg, 5.7rpg, 1.4apg
#24 Garren Bertsch (GR, 6'5) – 8.6ppg, 3.8rpg, 1.1apg
#1 Ryan Batte (JR, 6'6) – 21.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 2.8apg
 
Thomas More Head Coach Justin Ray
 
Justin Ray, Head Coach of the Thomas More Saints, is in his fourth season at the helm of the Saints' Men's Basketball program. He has a career record of 59-26 during his first three seasons, and Ray led the Saints to a 16-9 record in his first season. He coached the Saints to a 26-7 overall record and an 11-5 Mid-South Conference record in 2019-20, and he was named the Mid-South Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year after finishing third in the conference and advancing to the tournament championship game. The Saints were previously chosen to finish ninth out of nine teams in the conference preseason poll during 2019-20.
 
SAGU
 
The SAGU Lions are coming into the final site as the No. 6 seed in the Liston Quadrant after defeating Central Methodist and Montana Tech in the NAIA Championship Opening Round. SAGU currently has a 24-8 overall record after winning the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament championship over Wayland Baptist. The Lions began the season ranked No. 3 nationally, but they ended the regular season ranked No. 24 in the 2021-22 NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Final Poll on February 23, 2022, after experiencing multiple injuries and Covid issues around the beginning of the year. The Lions are led by two former First Team All-American's in Nykolas Mason (17.9ppg, 5.3rpg, 2.3apg) and Joshua Kashila (15.6ppg, 6.3rpg, 3.5apg).
 
NAIA Hoops Report, one of the nations leading media accounts covering NAIA Men's Basketball, says, "When push comes to shove though, this SAGU team is so talented, have been there before, and Head Coach, Delton Deal, is one of the best coaches in the NAIA."
 
SAGU's Impact Players
 
#13 Isaiah Boling (SR, 6'3) – 10.3ppg, 3.5ppg, 2.4apg
#10 Joshua Kashila (SR, 6'3) – 15.6ppg, 6.3rpg, 3.5apg
#5 Nykolas Mason (SR, 6'6) – 17.9ppg, 5.3rpg, 2.3 apg
#14 Nathan Bailey (SR, 6'5) – 9.9ppg, 4.5rpg, 1.5apg, 1.5spg
#24 Joel Polius (SR, 6'8) – 9.7ppg, 7.7ppg
 
SAGU Head Coach Delton Deal
 
Fifth Season
2021-22 record: 24-8
Career Record: 241-128 (SAGU Record: 104-40)
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 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 104-40, 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 has coached three NAIA All-Americans while 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 Elite 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 as the State Coach of the Year. Coach Deal currently has a collegiate record of 241-128.
 
NAIA Hoops Report says, "Outside of Loyola, these two teams may be the two favorites to win the National Title... this has the making of being the best game in the Round of 16."
 

 You can check out the NAIA Hoops Report Round of 16 Preview at the link below or you can check out naiahoopsreports.com.
 
NAIA Hoops Report Round of 16 Preview
 
More information on the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament can be found here.
 
Check out the 2022 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Final Schedule, here.

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