One of the hotter teams in the South awaits the Lewis-Clark State College men’s basketball team in the opening round of the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championships as the Warriors will open against University of the Cumberlands at 4:15 p.m., PST, on Thursday, March 20 at Kansas City, Mo. 

Pairings for the 32-team single-elimination tournament were announced on Wednesday and the Warriors, 22-9 overall, wound up with the No. 15 seed, while University of the Cumberlands Patriots, from Williamsburg, Kent., is the No. 18 seed. The Patriots finished the season at 19-13, but won 11 of their final 16 games after being 8-8 at one point this season. 

The winner of the first round matchup will face the winner of the game between No. 2 Lee University, 31-1, and Langston of Oklahoma, 15-12. Lee and Langston will play Thursday at 1:30 p.m., preceding the LCSC-Cumberlands matchup. 

“When you reach this point in the season, everyone’s good,” LCSC coach Tim Walker said.  “Cumberlands plays in a great league, they are well coached, and have fine players at all positions.  They shoot the 3 extremely well, and also have players inside that can score.  They can beat you in a number of ways.  We will definitely have our work cut out for us.” 

LCSC, like Cumberlands, also ended the season strong. The Warriors were 6-5 at one point, but won its next eight games and finished the season by winning 16 of their final 20 contests. The Warriors earned a four-way tie for the Frontier Conference title on the final day of the regular season with a win, combined with a Westminster loss. Because of the head-to-head tiebreakers, LCSC was awarded the top seed in the conference tournament and went on to win the tournament title last weekend in Butte, Mont. 

Fellow FC member Carroll College, 23-8, was seeded at No. 25 and will open against No. 8 seed Robert Morris, 26-3, on Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. 

A year ago, the Patriots were one of the best shooting teams in the country. They led the NAIA in 3-point shooting and 3-pointers made, but lost its top three players from that team. This year’s squad, which lost in the championship game of the Mid-South Conference tournament, also is a good shooting team, but has made its mark this season in rebounding. 

Cumberlands is No. 6 in the NAIA in total defensive rebounds at 30.5 per game. That means opponents usually only get one shot attempt on each possession.  On the other side, LCSC is No. 6 in the country in turnover margin, forcing six more than its commits in a game, and also is 10th in steals. Because of these stats, getting most out of each possession will be critical for both teams. 

The two teams are fairly even in a number of statistical categories. LCSC is holding opponents to 66.5 points per game, while Cumberlands is at 67.5. Cumberlands is 16th in 3-point shooting at 38.5 percent, and No. 20 in 3-pointers made per game at 7.8. LCSC is shooting 37.4 percent at the 3-point line and is averaging 6.9 3-pointers a game. 

Cumberland features a fairly balanced attack. Chad Byron, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, ranks No. 8 in the country in 3-point shooting at 45.1 percent and is 10th in free-throw shooting at 85.3 percent. Larry Fitzgerald, who earned a national Player of the Week honor during the season, is 14th in field goal percentage at 57.7 percent, and is 31st in rebounding at 7.8 per game. 

Fitzgerald, a 6-6 junior forward, leads the team in scoring as well at 15.9 points per game, while Byron is at nearly 14.0 per outing. Mike Gibson, a 6-7 senior post is just less than 10 points per game, while 6-4 Matt Daniel, and 6-6 Josh Phillips round out the starting five.  Gibson is hitting 42.9 percent of his shots from the 3-point area. 

Cumberlands is coached by Donnie Butcher, who is wrapping up his eighth season at the helm. 

This is Cumberlands’ 18th appearance at the national tournament. Since its first NAIA national tournament berth in 1978, Cumberlands has never gone more than three years without making a tournament appearance. 

LCSC is making its eighth trip to nationals and fourth in the last five years. LCSC is 2-7 all-time in the tournament, winning first-round games in 2000 and 2004.