NWF State men advance to Elite Eight

By SETH STRINGER

HUTCHINSON – Everything about the NWF State men's basketball team screamed "Elite" before the NJCAA Division I tournament.

The 30-2 record. The fourth straight Panhandle Conference crown. The Region 8 title.

Elite indeed. Now the Raiders are Elite Eight bound in Kansas.

Andres Feliz filled up the stat sheet with 24 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists and the second-seeded Raiders lit the nets on fire Tuesday night with a 54-percent-shooting clip en route to a 109-91 win over 15th-seeded Western Nebraska.

Now the Raiders advance on to the Elite Eight, where they'll face the winner of seventh-seeded Odessa and 10th-seeded Southern Idaho on Thursday at 2 p.m.

On a night when five Raiders scored in double figures, Chris Duarte added 21 points and six rebounds and Kelvin Robinson chipped in 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. Combined with Feliz and Duarte, the trio shot a collective 23-for-33 from the floor.

DJ Funderburk and Tray Boyd III added 14 points each and Karim Ezzeddine chipped in nine points for the Raiders, who dominated every corner of the stat sheet.

The Raiders held a 54-24 edge in the paint and outrebounded the Cougars 41-31. Steve DeMeo's crew also had a 29-7 edge on points off turnovers as they committed just eight turnovers.

The Raiders' 25 assists painted the picture of an unselfish crew that constantly dished out the extra pass, and the 31-9 edge on fast break points validated the Raiders' ability to push the tempo and attack the rim at will.

The 109 points was much of the same for a crew that ranks near the top of every offensive metric in the country. They're outscoring foes 91-71 on the season and shooting 54 percent from the floor, 41 percent from beyond the arc for nine 3s per game and 73 percent from the foul stripe.