KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 13-ranked Mid-America Christian Evangels will be making their first-ever appearance at the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Tournament, the organization confirmed today (Mar. 11).  The Evangels will open up the tourney against No. 19-ranked Xavier (La.) Gold Rush on Thursday afternoon (Mar. 19) at 4:30 p.m. at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. 

It's one more historic achievement this season for the Evangels, which has also featured the squad capturing their first Sooner Athletic Conference regular season championship and head coach Willie Holley notching his milestone 800th victory (Holley currently has 811 career victories).

The Evangels are 23-10 overall, while the Gold Rush has a record of 24-9 and compete in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference.

Semar Farris, the SAC Player of the Year, paces the Evangels with team-highs of 17.6 points per game, 163 assists, 81 threes and 71 steals.  Reggie Davis and Jarius Wilson also score in double-figures for MACU with identical 11.1 ppg outputs. Chris Runnels leads the Evangels in rebounds (5.5 rpg) and blocks (46)

Morris Wright is leading the Gold Rush with 14.0 ppg along with a team-best 117 assists. Jarvis Thibodeaux has pulled down a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game.

With a win over Xavier, the Evangels would play in the second round on Friday night at 8 p.m. against the winner of No. 4-ranked Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and Missouri Valley College. 

Click the links below for the complete bracket and official NAIA release, including ticket and video stream information.

Bracket (PDF)

Official Release