The 2015 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball national championship was held in March at

Keeter Gymnasium Memorial Fieldhouse and Keeter Gymnasium is a 3,500-seat arena for College of the Ozarks at Point Lookout, Missouri, United States. The Fieldhouse, located at the corner of Cultural Court and Opportunity Avenue, like other buildings on the campus ...

Point Lookout, Missouri Point Lookout is an unincorporated community in Oliver Township, Taney County, Missouri, United States, near Branson and Hollister. Point Lookout is in U.S. post office ZIP code 65726. Point Lookout is part of the Branson Micropolitan Statistica ...

. The 24th annual NAIA

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tournament featured thirty-two teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game was won by

Cornerstone University Cornerstone University is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cornerstone University has undergraduate and graduate programs, two seminaries (Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and Asia Biblical Theological Seminary based in ...

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

over

Dakota Wesleyan University Dakota Wesleyan University (DWU) is a private Methodist university in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was founded in 1885 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The student body averages slightly fewer than 800 students. The campus of the ...

Mitchell, South Dakota Mitchell is a city in and the county seat of Davison County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 15,660 at the 2020 census making it the sixth most populous city in South Dakota. Mitchell is the principal city of the Mitchell Micr ...

by a score of 66 to 45.

Tournament field

The 2015 tournament field was announced on March 14 in a live selection show. The field is made up of 23 automatic qualifiers and eight at-large bids and one automatic host bid presented to

College of the Ozarks College of the Ozarks is a private Christian college in Point Lookout, Missouri. The college has an enrollment of 1,426 and over 30 academic majors in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science programs.https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/college ...

. This tournament field welcomed the return of four out of the last five champions, led by defending champion and top seed

Indiana Wesleyan University Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) is a private evangelical Christian university headquartered in Marion, Indiana, and affiliated with the Wesleyan Church. It is the largest private university in Indiana. The university system includes IWU—Ma ...

along with Cardinal Stritch, Cornerstone, and Saint Francis. There were four newcomers to the bracket,

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Northwestern Ohio Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp are ...

, Olivet Nazarene and St. Francis of Illinois. The complete field consists of Ashford,

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, Bethel, Brescia, Briar Cliff,

Cal Maritime The California State University Maritime Academy (Cal Maritime or CSU Maritime Academy) is a public university in Vallejo, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system and the only maritime academy on the United ...

, Cardinal Stritch, Concordia, Cornerstone, Dakota State, Davenport, Embry-Riddle,

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, Grace,

College of Idaho The College of Idaho (C of I) is a private liberal arts college in Caldwell, Idaho. Founded in 1891, it is the state's oldest private liberal arts college and has an enrollment of over 1,000 students. The college's alumni include eight Rhode ...

Indiana University East Indiana University East (IU East) is a public university in Richmond, Indiana, a regional campus of Indiana University that serves the eastern Indiana and western Ohio area. Established in 1971 by the Indiana University Board of Trustees, IU East ...

, Indiana Wesleyan, Midland, Milligan, Morningside, Mount Mercy, Northwestern Ohio, Olivet Nazarene, College of the Ozarks, Saint Francis, Saint Thomas,

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oreg ...

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, Union, and Warner Pacific.

Highlights

Fab Four

The fifth ranked Dakota Wesleyan Tigers came back from a twelve point deficit to defeat the College of Idaho Yotes 88-80 and advance to the NAIA championship game. On the other side of the bracket, Davenport hit three free throws in the final six seconds to secure a 79-75 win over defending champion Indiana Wesleyan.

Championship game

Cornerstone won their third national championship, defeating Dakota Wesleyan 66-45 behind a twenty-four point performance by Ben Lanning.

Tourney awards and honors

*Dr. James Naismith/Emil Liston Team Sportsmanship Award: Southern Oregon

Individual recognition

*Most Outstanding Player:

Dominez Burnett Dominez Burnett (born October 28, 1992) is an American professional basketball player from Flint, Michigan. Burnett last played for MZT Skopje. In 2016, Burnett was named the Bevo Francis National Small College Basketball Player of the Year. Pri ...

, Davenport *Championship Hustle Award: Luke Bamberg, Dakota Wesleyan *NABC/NAIA Division II Coach of the Year: Kim Elders, Cornerstone *Rawlings-NAIA Division II National Coach of the Year: Matt Wilber, Dakota Wesleyan *2015 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball All-Championship Team

Statistical leaders

(minimum 4 games)

Bracket

Epilogue

When the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball All-America Teams, almost all the players were represented at the national tournament, with a few notable exceptions including Lawrence Jackson of Northwestern Ohio, Jordan Nelson of Waldorf, Andre Winston of Southeastern. NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball All-America Teams 1st Team * - denotes NAIA/NABC Player of the Year 2nd Team 3rd Team Honorable Mention

References

{{NAIA Division II men's basketball tournament NAIA Men's Basketball Championship 2015 in sports in Missouri

Tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...