Life Suffers Defeat Against #2 Team at National Tournament

On Wednesday evening Life University staff and students crowded into a classroom in Annex C to watch Life University’s men’s basketball team take on the second ranked team at the NAIA National Championship. The result wasn’t in Life’s favor, who suffered a 9-point loss to Oklahoma Baptist University, 90-81.

The Bison led 30-28 as the teams entered the second half. Oklahoma took off with a 14-2 run, shooting 43.3 percent from the field and out-rebounding Life 46-21. Greg Brown led the Running Eagles in scoring with 19 points, followed by Tay Barber who scored 17 and JaQuan Bray with 16.

“We were very excited to make the national tournament our first year back. It is disappointing that we didn’t play as well as we hoped, but we worked our way back into the game with great 3-point shooting in the second half,” said Life University Director of Athletics John Barrett. “It was a great effort, but we came up short.”

Life University earned a bid to compete among the top 32 teams at the national tournament in Kansas City, MO. after they swept the Association of Independent Institutions’ Regional Tournament on March 8. The national tournament is a single-elimination, seven-day event comprised of qualifiers from affiliated Division 1 conferences in the NAIA.

The NAIA national tournament is recognized as college basketball’s toughest tournament and the longest running national collegiate tournament in any sport. This is Life University’s tenth appearance and has three national championship wins.

For the season, Life’s record is 23-11. Three of the team’s players have consistently ranked nationally in the top five in individual categories. Point guard Tay Barber finished the regular season leading the nation in assists, along with Life’s Greg Brown who leads the nation in steals. Jonathan Johnson is ranked third in the country in blocks, and Ken Moore finished seventh in field goal percentage.

“We are excited about what we’ve done our first year back,” said Barrett. “We have all returning players next year and we look forward to another successful season.”