KANSAS CITY, Mo. — UPIKE was outrebounded 57-40 and had its top scorer Kenny Manigault limited to six first-half minutes with early foul trouble, but still found a way to win 94-86 against Bethel (Tenn.) in the first round of the NAIA National Championship on Thursday.
Macari Brooks pushed the UPIKE (26-5) offense with a team-high 21 points, while Michael Eneh made the most of a starting role with three points and eight big rebounds. The Bears shot 46.9 percent from the field while limiting the Wildcats to a 37.9-percent showing.
Free throws paid off for the Bears as well, hitting 30 of 40, compared to 18 of 31 for Bethel.
The Wildcats were led by Caleb Hardy with 31 points and 11 rebounds, while Mikel Terrance also posted a double-double of 16 points and 11 boards.
UPIKE advances to a 1:30 p.m. ET second-round matchup against either No. 10-seed Concordia (Calif.) or Oklahoma City on Friday.
Bethel (23-9) was on the attack early and often, doing its best to get the Bears in foul trouble.
The plan worked perfectly over the first several minutes as the Bears had a 6-2 foul advantage with 13:05 on the clock. Two of those fouls were on Manigault, putting him on the bench for the rest of the half.
Despite the circumstances, the Bears found energy from a breakaway, one-handed slam from Eneh energized the team. It was only a 9-8 lead for UPIKE before the dunk, but it started a 14-2 run to see it go up by 13 points.
It wasn’t only UPIKE ready to go on a run as the Wildcats went to work on the offensive glass and answered with a 14-2 burst of their own. At the end of the rally, it was back to a one-point game with UPIKE on top 25-24. It didn’t stop there either as the Bears came right back with an 8-0 run and led 38-29 after a Brooks three with 2:45 left until halftime.
The half closed with back-to-back threes from each team, including one from Trey Rakes in the final seconds to give UPIKE a 41-35 lead at the break.
Bethel scored seven of the first nine points in the second half to make it a two-point game and trimmed it to one on a free throw by Eddie Green at the 15:49 mark.
In danger of trailing for the first time in the game, it was Brooks coming through again with a big 3-pointer. Three minutes later he hit another one deep in the corner and UPIKE had its lead back in double figures at 60-50 for the first time since being up 20-10.
Bethel wouldn’t go away in the later stages of the game, keeping within six points at 75-69 on a bucket from Hardy. With 5:30 to play it was still a six-point game at 79-73 after a pair of Bethel free throws, then on its next possession Green made a basket to trim it to four.
With 2:34 to play, it was still a four-point lead for the Bears until K.K. Simmons and Manigault converted two straight fast-break chances to quickly push out to an 88-80 advantage.
Following an offensive board on a missed lob to Brooks, Manigault called for it at the top of the key and drove straight to the cup to go back up by 10 with a minute to go. The Wildcats briefly got back within eight, but that’s as close as they would get the rest of the way.
