The Southwest Baptist men’s basketball team claimed its first MIAA Conference Tournament championship with a 78-71 win over Central Missouri St. at Municipal Auditorium on Sunday. Bearcats senior Sheldon pace had 19 points and 11 assists to put a lock on the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.
CMSU’s Alonzo Brooks hit a three-pointer to give the Mules a 67-66 lead, but SBU responded with a 12-4 run to end the game.
SBU is 26-4 and will host the South Central Regional–one of eight, eight-team regionals to kick off the NCAA Division II Tournament. They’ll face St. Edwards in the first round on Saturday. Central Missouri St. will be the three-seed at the SBU regional and will get MIAA Conference foe Truman St. (20-8) in the first round. Northwest Missouri St. is the fifth-seed at the regional and will play West Texas A&M.
The other Missouri team to advance to the tournament is Drury, which is the fifth seed of the Great Lakes region and will take on Southern Indiana in the first round in Rensselaer, Indiana.