Westmont (25-7) will enter the 2013 NAIA Men’s Basketball Division I Tournament as the eleventh overall seed in the field of 32.
The Warriors will take on Martin Methodist (20-10) of Tennessee on Wednesday, March 13 at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City in a first round game.
The RedHawks, ranked at number 20 in today’s NAIA coaches poll, finished first in the TranSouth Athletic Conference standings with a record of 9-1. Martin Methodist lost to Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) by a score of 60-53 in the TranSouth Tournament semifinals.
The RedHawks will be making their eighth NAIA National Tournament appearance. Last season, Martin Methodist recorded an 81-68 first round win over Southern Nazarene (Okla.) before falling 88-74 to Mountain State (W. Va.) in the second round. The RedHawks have a 6-7 record in national tournament play.
Martin Methodist ranks sixth in the NAIA in fewest points allowed by opponents at 61.47 per game and fourth in lowest field goal percentage allowed at .379. The RedHawks rank tenth in rebounding margin at plus 6.20 per game.
Junior point guard Josh Watson averages 12.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game for the RedHawks while senior forward Jeremy Rodgers is averaging 12.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Senior guard Marion Williams leads the RedHawks in scoring with 13.4 points per game, however, he has not played since December 15.
The Warriors and RedHawks have not had a common opponent this season and the two teams have never met in any previous season.
Westmont will be making its sixteenth trip to the national tournament and its first since 2007. The Warriors reached the semifinals in 1984 and 1999 and made it to the quarterfinals in 1972, 1973 and 2002. Westmont has a record of 16-16 in national tournament play.
In 2007, the Warriors fell to top-seeded Robert Morris 81-68 in first round action. Robert Morris’ win was later vacated due to the use of an ineligible player.
The winner of the Westmont-Martin Methodist game will advance to the second round on Friday to take on the winner between Science and Arts (Okla.) and #6 Southwestern Assemblies of God (Texas).
Science and Arts (17-9) finished in a tie for third in the Sooner Athletic Conference with a record of 9-7. The Drovers lost to John Brown (Ark.) in the semifinals of the conference tournament by a score of 85-74. It was the third meeting between the two teams and the third loss for Science and Arts. Westmont defeated John Brown in a neutral site game on December 18 by a score of 77-68. Westmont and Science and Arts have had no other common opponents.
Southwestern Assemblies of God (SAGU), which posted an overall record of 29-4, won the Red River regular season championship with a conference mark of 20-2. The Lions lost in the conference championship game to St. Thomas by a score of 67-51.
Westmont and SAGU met on November 24 in Waxahachie, Texas where the Warriors prevailed 69-65 in overtime. In addition to the head-to-head meeting, the Warriors and Lions had one common opponent in Jarvis Christian (Texas). Westmont posted an 83-65 win over Jarvis Christian while SAGU recorded two wins of 80-74 and 75-67.
