Jimmies defeat No. 3 LSU-Shreveport to advance to Round of 16

OMAHA, Neb.-- Not done yet.

The University of Jamestown men's basketball team punched its ticket to the NAIA National Tournament Round of 16 in Kansas City, Mo., defeating No.3 LSU-Shreveport 87-75 Saturday afternoon to win the Omaha B Bracket of the Opening Round.

Jamestown (21-8) will play Faulkner (Ala.) Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Cramer Bracket. Shawnee State (Ohio) and Bethel (Kan.) are the other teams in the bracket and play at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.

UJ trailed 14-9 with 16:41 in the first half, but a 5-0 run capped off by a Marc Kjos (SO/Lake City, MN) three-pointer tied the game three-and-a-half minutes later. Kjos scored again to break a 16-16 tie and the Jimmies would never trail again.

Another Kjos three-pointer gave Jamestown its first double-digit lead, and UJ would lead by as many as a dozen late in the half.

The Pilots were able to cut the lead to single digits (38-30) at the break.

UJ opened the second half with seven of the first nine points, going up by 13 and keeping LSU-Shreveport off balance. Jamestown's lead was cut to seven with 11:53 to play, but back-to-back buckets by Brock Schrom (SR/Grand Rapids, MN) and Mason Walters (SO/Jamestown, ND), followed by a Will Cordes (FR/Shakopee, MN) three-pointer, made it a 14-point lead just over three minutes later.

The Jimmies' last 14 points came from the foul line after shooting 15-for-21 from the floor in the second half. UJ was 10-for-11 inside the three-point line in the final 20 minutes.

Cole Woodford (FR/Redwood Falls, MN) came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points. Walters added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Kjos had 15 points and four assists. Cordes was also in double figures with 12.

Jamestown will be in the round of 16 for the second time in the last three seasons. UJ was in the NAIA Division II round of 16 in 2019. The NAIA combined the two divisions of basketball into one prior to the 2020-21 season.