KANSAS CITY, Mo. – [
Schedule |
Bracket] Only four teams remain as the quarterfinal round of the 2023 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship Final Site reached its conclusion on Wednesday.
No. 1 College of Idaho def. No. 6 Tougaloo College 83-66 | Box Score
For the first time since 2019,
College of Idaho will head to the Fab Four. Thanks to a 25-4 run to end the first half, the Coyotes pulled off another victory with an 83-66 score over Tougaloo. C of I was led by sophomore Jake O'Neil, who scored 16 first-half points en route to 20 points. Junior Guard Charles Elzie also finished in double figures with 11 points. Sophomore Guard Drew Wyman led the team on the glass with 10 rebounds.
The impressive win led the team to punch their ticket to play on Friday. Their opponent will be OUAZ, who College of Idaho defeated for their first win on the season, at 5 p.m. CDT. The Spirit and Coyotes are familiar with each other in postseason as C of I posted a 57-52 win in the NAIA Second Round in 2022 in Caldwell.
- The Coyotes advance to the NAIA National Semifinals and improve to 34-1 on the season.
- 25th appearance in the NAIA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
- Head Coach Colby Blaine owns a record of 134-24 over the course of nine seasons.
- This marked the sixth time this season that C of I has had a lead of 20 or more points at halftime.
- The Coyotes have now won 33 straight games when leading at halftime.
- This marks the 34
th straight win for C of I as their only loss of the season came in their first game to fellow NAIA Quarterfinalist Arizona Christian
- Tougaloo scored the first basket in the first four seconds and never got the lead back.
- COI shot 51.6 percent from the field while they held Tougaloo to 41.5 percent shooting.
- 11 players scored for the Yotes.