Kansas City, Mo. – Evangel hung on to knock off 11^th ranked Wayland Baptist 67-66 in the first round of the NAIA-I national  tournament Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

The Crusaders led by one as Wayland Baptist had the ball with 12 seconds left. The Pioneers missed a 15-foot shot with four seconds remaining, then missed a tip-in before a second tipped ball went in just after the final buzzer.

Evangel led 33-30 at halftime before a run early in the second half put the Crusaders ahead by 19, 57-38 with 10:20 left in the game. After Wayland Baptist cut the Evangel lead to seven, Dylan Bekemeier's three-pointer put the Crusaders in front 66-56 with 2:04 left.

Evangel missed four straight free throws and committed two turnovers in the final two minutes as the Pioneers rallied but the Crusaders hung on for the one-point win.

Brodie Wingert led the Crusaders with 20 points. The total was a season high for the senior from Kickapoo as he posted 14 points in the second half and hit five three-pointers in the game.

Richard Chapman added 14 points and Korry Tillery had 9 points with 20 rebounds.

Evangel, second in the nation in free throw percentage, hit just 9 of 20 free throw attempts in the game. The Crusaders did hit 10 of their 21

three-point attempts while Wayland Baptist went 8 for 24 from three-point range.

Royal Crouch had 22 points to lead Wayland Baptist. The Pioneers ended their season with a 27-6 record.

Evangel improved to 21-12.

The Crusaders advance to the second round and will play #6 Dalton State (Ga.) on Friday morning at 9 a.m. at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.

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