Box Score Kansas City, MO - The OUAZ Spirit had their miracle run through the NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament end by losing to overall top seed, College of Idaho, 73-72. OUAZ, which trailed by 23 points (50-27) with 12:43 to play, rallied back and had the ball with 5.5 to play with the score 73-70. Two Spirit passes got the ball to senior Josiah De'laCerda who fired a three trying to repeat his game-winner from the first round, however this time, the shot was partly blocked. He recovered the ball and scored a normal jumper at the buzzer.  He finished as the high scorer in the game with 28 points on 8-of-14 shots and 5-of-9 three-pointers. He also led the Spirit in rebounds with 10 rebounds.

"This is extremely tough," said OUAZ head coach Matt Keeley. "While we dug ourselves into a hole, coming back from 23 down with 12 minutes against that team shows the fight we have. I couldn't be more proud of our players and what we accomplished, especially in the postseason."

OUAZ trailed 36-21 at halftime due to hitting just six field goals overall and 2-of-15 threes. The second half was a different story as the Spirit scored 51 points by hitting nearly 50% of their shots and 84% (15-18) free throws. Kolten Hitt and Alex Villi helped spark the comeback by scoring 11 and 13 points, respectively.

De'laCerda and Hitt were named to the All-Tournament Team. For the three games in Kansas City, Josiah averaged 20.7 points and 8.7 rebounds. Hitt averaged 14.3 points and connected on 52% of his shots.

The loss leaves the Spirit with a 25-10 overall record (back to back 25-win seasons for first time) and the title of being the youngest program to make the NAIA national semifinals in the 85 year history of the tournament. OUAZ has only been in existence for six years.