College of Idaho beats Oklahoma Wesleyan 93-65 for its 2nd NAIA championship in 3 years

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Samaje Morgan scored a season-high 28 points, Dougie Peoples had 21 points and five 3-pointers, and No. 1 seed College of Idaho beat seventh-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan 93-65 on Tuesday night to claim its second NAIA championship in three years.

College of Idaho (35-2) won the program’s third national title, also securing the NAIA Division II championship in 1996 and a D-I title in 2023. The Yotes lost in the Fab Four last season.

Oklahoma Wesleyan (28-8) also won a NAIA D-II championship in 2009.

Johnny Radford made a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to give the College of Idaho a 33-18 midway through the first half. The Yotes made 12 of their opening 15 shots, including 8 of 10 from 3-point range, while OKWU was 7 of 17 overall.

Peoples finished the first half with 17 points and five 3-pointers, and Morgan added 12 points as the College of Idaho led 49-29. The Yotes were 11 of 17 from 3-point range, while OKWU went 11 of 32 overall including 1 of 6 from distance.

It was the Yotes’ second straight title game with a large lead, after nearly blowing a 23-point second-half advantage against Indiana Tech two years ago.

The Yotes were determined not to let another second-half lead evaporate against OKWU, which was not able to reduce its deficit below 16 points the entire second half.

Radford finished with 12 points for the College of Idaho and Tyler Robinett added 10. The Yotes finished 16 of 30 from behind the arc.

Nick Bene and Jaden Lietzke each scored 15 points for Oklahoma Wesleyan. Dylan Phillip, who scored a team-high 24 points on Monday, finished with five points in 19 minutes.

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