Burford’s Dominance Helps William Penn Roll PSC for Title Shot
William Penn University Athletics
Peru, Neb.–Brady Burford (Sr., Chicago, Ill., Physical Education) and Steven Roundtree (Sr., Jacksonville, Fla., Physical Education) both posted double-doubles as the Statesmen men’s basketball team avenged an earlier-season loss to earn a spot in the championship game after defeating #2 seed Peru State 97-79 in the semifinals of the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Friday.
#10 William Penn (26-6), which lost at Peru in late January, will now meet top-seeded and #11 MidAmerica Nazarene in Olathe, Kan. Monday at 7:05 p.m. for the tournament crown. The game will continue the Heart’s partnership with Niles Media Group as KSMO-TV in Kansas City, Mediacom’s MC-22 in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa, and ESPN3 will all broadcast the game.
MNU’s semifinal win over Graceland guaranteed that the league’s top three seeds (MNU, PSC, and WPU) will earn the three automatic bids to nationals. Therefore, Monday’s game will be played for bragging rights and likely the highest seed of the three teams at the NAIA Division I National Championships.
The Statesmen and Pioneers split their regular season series with WPU winning 92-76 on December 12 and MNU taking an 87-78 victory on February 6. It is the program’s 10th trip to the tournament finals in the last 13 years.
The Bobcats (22-10) fed off being at home early, leading 16-9 just over six minutes in. William Penn rallied back, though, and took the lead for good at 20-19 on a pair of free throws by Josh Caldwell (Sr., Denver, Colo., Physical Education) with 9:49 to go in the first stanza.
Still up just one at 22-21, the difference-making run came over the next four minutes as the visitors scored 19 of the following 21 points. William Penn eventually ventured to its locker room up 49-35 at the break.
The navy and gold scored the first six points after intermission and were never in any danger as the margin stood above 20 points for much of the latter half.
Burford scored a season-high 32 points on a dazzling 15-for-19 shooting effort. William Penn was significantly better from the field with a 51.3%-40.3% edge. The senior also corralled 11 rebounds and stole two passes.
Roundtree’s double-double consisted of 20 points and 12 rebounds; he also had two steals. WPU was impressive on the boards with a 48-32 advantage; its 16-9 offensive edge led to a massive 22-2 mark in second-chance points.
Jarvis Haywood (Jr., Charlotte, N.C., Business Management) knocked down three trifectas as part of a 24-point night. Caldwell was also in double digits with 14 points off the bench in addition to two blocks
Kevin Smith (Jr., Baltimore, Md., Physical Education) assisted on four scores.
The victors committed one more turnover (17-16), but were more successful at punishing their opponents with a 23-16 advantage in points off errors. The Statesmen also overcame six fewer free throws.
“We played exceptionally well tonight,” Head Coach John Henry said. “Our four big guys were monsters all night. Brad Burford was a beast and dominated.”
