The madness has ended for area high schools and is just about to begin for NCAA basketball teams. Meanwhile, the NAIA team with a Great Bend connection is still going strong. Monday evening, Matt Keeley's Ottawa University Arizona (OUAZ) Spirit defeated Southeastern University (Fla.) 79-71 to advance to the school's first-ever Great 8 in Kansas City.
OUAZ is located in Surprise, Ariz., some 800 miles southwest of Great Bend. Keeley returned to Kansas for round one of the NAIA National Tournament in Park City on March 7. After beating Kansas' Baker University in buzzer-beater fashion, the Spirit knocked off Oklahoma Wesleyan, ranked No. 7 in the country, to advance to the Round of 16 at Kansas City's Municipal Stadium. The team had already made school history by advancing that far before defeating Southeastern on Monday.
Playing as the No. 7 seed, OUAZ takes a 24-9 record into Wednesday's 3 p.m. matchup against No. 4 seed Montana Tech. The 10th-ranked Orediggers knocked off eighth-ranked William Penn (Iowa) in overtime to reach the quarterfinals. Top-ranked College of Idaho may await Wednesday's winner in the national semifinals.
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