Park City, Kan. — Coming off an emotional buzzer-beating win in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament, OUAZ found itself facing the top-seed in its bracket (and 7th ranked) Oklahoma Wesleyan for the chance to move onto Kansas City and a spot in the NAIA Round of 16.

With four players in double-figures including a career-high 29 points from senior guard Keshawn Burner, the Spirit beat OWU, 83-72. The win moves OUAZ to 23-9 overall, 9-1 on neutral courts this season and in the NAIA Round of 16 in for the first time in school history. Oklahoma Wesleyan ends its year at 27-5.

From the opening tip, the Spirit sent a message that they planned to play fast and use strong defense to offset the size of OWU. Bruner and fellow-senior guard Kolten Hitt combined for 26 first half points and helped OUAZ hold a lead for the vast majority of the first half, including a 12-point edge (41-29) at the break. The defense played on OWU's big-men Jaden Lietzke (KCAC Player of the Year) and Kaleb Stokes may have been the biggest story of the half. In the first game of the tournament, the OWU duo had 33 points and 19 rebounds. In the first half against OUAZ, they had 10 points and nine boards.

When the second half started, the Spirit increased their lead to 43-29 on a layup by Alex Villi, however, OWU showed why they were ranked seventh nationally by going on a 24-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 53-46 lead. Their lead stood at 57-50 when the Spirit put together a 19-7 run of their own in a five minutes span to retake the lead (69-64) that they would never give up. A pair of three's from Villi, another from Bruner and one from Josiah De'laCerda during that time offset anything OWU could do.

Other Spirit players in double-figures were Hitt (16 points), De'laCerda (13 points) and Villi (11 points).  Combined Bruner and Hitt connected on 14-of-25 (.560) shots from the floor and 6-of-12 (.500) three pointers and 11-of-15 (.733) free throws.

What's Next
Now the 7th overall seed in the Cramer Quadrant, OUAZ will play 11th-seed Southeastern (Fla.) University on Monday, March 13 (5 pm CT) in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. Southeastern advanced with wins over Union (Ky.), 82-76, and Faulkner (Ala.), 65-61.