Men's Basketball | 3/26/2026 2:30:00 PM

No. 3 GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS (32-3, 19-1 PSAC West) vs. No. 7 OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (31-3, 20-2 GAC) 
NCAA Division II Elite Eight -- Quarterfinals
DATE/TIME: Friday, March 27, 2026 | 6:00 p.m.
HOMECOURT/LOCATION:  UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse l Pittsburgh, Pa.


NCAA Division II Elite Eight – Quarterfinals – Wednesday, March 25
Game 1 – No. 3 GANNON 75, No. 6 Michigan Tech 49
Game 2 –No. 7 Oklahoma Baptist 78, No. 2 Cal State East Bay 55
Game 3 – No. 1 Nova Southeastern (30-1) vs. No. 8 Black Hills State (30-4) – 6:002p.m.
Game 4 – No. 5 Lander 77, No. 4 Daemen 74

Friday, March 27 -- Semifinals
Game 5 – GANNON (32-3) vs. Oklahoma Baptist (31-3) – 6:00 p.m.
Game 6 – Nova Southeastern (31-1) vs. Lander (29-5) – 8:30 p.m.
 
Sunday, April 5 – Championship in Indianapolis, Ind.
Game 7 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner – 7:00 p.m.


GANNON IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
With Wednesday's win over Michigan Tech Gannon reached the national semifinals for the first time since 1987 and second time in school history. The Golden Knights are making their 28th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and have now won seven regional championships to advance to the Elite Eight. The sixth came two years ago when Nigel Haughton's putback as the buzzer sounded gave Gannon a 67-65 win over Charleston (WV). The Golden Knights went on to lose to Cal State San Bernardino 99-65 in the quarterfinals. A year ago Gannon defeated East Stroudsburg (99-74) and Virginia State (92-66) to reach the Sweet 16. West Liberty ended Gannon's hopes for a second straight trip to the Elite Eight with a 101-90 victory on its homecourt. Gannon won its first regional crown in 1975 winning the East Regional. They also won the East Regional in 1987, 1988 and 1990. In 2009 Gannon won the Atlantic Regional.
 
ERIE, Pa. – And then there were four! The Gannon men's basketball team advanced to the NCAA Div. II semifinals for the first time since 1987 and the second time in school history with a 75-49 win over Michigan Tech on Wednesday.
 
The No. 3 Golden Knights now face Oklahoma Baptist on Friday at 6:00 p.m. at Duquesne's UMPC Cooper Fieldhouse in the first of two semifinals. The seventh-seeded Bison handed No. 2 seed Cal State East Bay a 78-55 defeat on Wednesday to reach the semifinals.
 
Friday's second semifinal features top-seeded Nova Southeastern against No. 5 Lander. That game tips off at 8:30 p.m. The 2026 NCAA Division II Championship Game is scheduled for Sunday, April 5 in Indianapolis, Ind. Tipoff at Gainbridge Fieldhouse is 1:00 p.m.  
 
Gannon earned its second trip to the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight in three years after defeating Indiana (Pa.) in the Atlantic Regional championship game. The quarterfinal win was the first since Tom Chapman guided the Golden Knights to a win over New Hampshire (93-81) in the 1987 quarterfinals. That was followed by a 61-55 victory over Eastern Montana in the semifinals. Gannon's run to the national championship ended with a 92-74 loss to Kentucky Wesleyan in the title game. 
 
Gannon tied the school record for wins and comes in at 32-3 record. The Golden Knights were ranked sixth in the final NABC Div. II Top 25.  The 2023-24 team also won 32 games.
 
Gannon is known for its high-scoring offensive attack which is actually a bi-product of a 94-feet-of-hell pressing defense. The Golden Knights rank third in Division II in scoring offense (95.3 ppg.) while leading the country in turnovers forced per game (22.9) and ranking second in turnover margin (+9.5).
 
Oklahoma Baptist has forged a great deal of its success thanks to an ability to take care of the ball.  The Bison commit just under 10 turnovers per contest.
 
The Path to the Final Four
No. 3 Gannon 75, No. 6 Michigan Tech 49
A dominant defensive effort led Gannon to the Final Four.
The Golden Knights scored the first nine points and jumped out to a double-digit lead just over five minutes into the contest. Michigan Tech never got closer than ten points the rest of the way. Gannon held a 38-21 halftime lead. The Huskies had one serious rally in the second half, scoring nine straight points to pull to within 10 points at 47-37 with 11:37 remaining. The Golden Knights scored six straight points, four by Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia/Marist Catholic College North Shore), to quell the comeback effort. Gannon limited MTU to just 28.6 percent shooting from the floor (16-of-56) and forced 16 turnovers. The Golden Knights also battled a physical Michigan Tech team to a 43-43 draw on the glass. Pace Prosser (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) led Gannon with 19 points, going a perfect 12-for-12 at the line. Precious Idiaru (Speyer, Germany/LA Premier Prep) added 17 points and Mackenzie Morgan (Sydney, Australia/Marist Catholic College North Shore) had 12. A switching defense limited All-American Marcus Tomashek, who came in averaging over 23 ppg., to just five points.
 
No. 7 Oklahoma Baptist 78, No. 2 Cal State East Bay 55
The Bison handed Cal State East Bay its first defeat of the season to reach the Final Four in their first trip to the Elite Eight. Oklahoma Baptist jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead at 48-28, shooting 50.0 percent from the floor while limiting Cal State East Bay to 33.3 percent. The second half was even worse for the Pioneers as they made just 10-of-47 shots (21.3 percent). Jackson Greene led all scorers with 23 points. All-American Terry Conor Jr. added 17 points and Erik Madrid came off the bench to pull down 14 rebounds.
 
The Knight Watch:
Record:  32-3, 19-1 PSAC West
Head Coach: Easton Bazzoli (NABC Div. II Atlantic Region Co-Coach of the Year; PSAC West Coach of the Year; 59-10, 2nd year)
Top Players:  Pace Prosser (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) (G, 6-2, So., 18.3 ppg., 5.2 rpg., 745-of-239 3's, 156 asts., 76 stls.); Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia/Marist Catholic College North Shore) (G/F, 6-4, Jr., 13. ppg., 5.2 rpg., 53.2 FG%, 54 stls.); Lucas Sekasi (Washington, DC/Jackson-Reed) (11.1 ppg., 4.9 rpg., 158 asts., 63 stls.); Precious Idiaru (Speyer, Germany/LA Premier Prep) (F, 6-10, R-Jr., 11.3 ppg., 4.4 rpg., 43-of-132 3's); Mackenzie Morgan (Sydney, Australia/Marist Catholic College North Shore) (G, 6-4, Jr., 9.7 ppg., 3.7 rpg., 59-of-171 3's, 71 stls.); Layne Sarver (New Madison, Ohio/Tri-Village) (G, 6-6, Sr., 9.0 ppg., 61-of-180 3's); Victor Desmond (Onalaska, Wisc./Onalaska) (G/F, 6-7, Sr., 7.5 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 30 blks.)  

• Gannon is making its second appearance in three years in the Elite Eight, and a year ago advanced to the Sweet 16. The Golden Knights won the Atlantic Regional title and are in the Elite Eight. They were awarded the third seed in the tournament.  
• The Golden Knights tied the school record for wins on Wednesday with the 75-49 win over Michigan Tech.  They improved to 32-3 record, matching the record set by the 2023-24 edition. They were the PSAC Western Division regular season champions, finishing at 19-1 in league play. Gannon was sixth in the final NABC Div. II Top 25 released recently.
• Gannon finished as the runner-up at the PSAC Tournament, dropping an 80-79 heart-breaking decision to California (Pa.) in the title game. The Vulcans were fouled on a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left and converted all three free throws to snap Gannon's 15-game winning streak. The Golden Knights defeated East Stroudsburg 104-73 in the quarterfinals and beat Indiana (Pa.) for the third time this season in the semifinals 99-85.
• After defeating Charleston (WV) 83-58 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Regional, Gannon gained a bit of revenge in the semifinals against California (Pa.). The Golden Knights pulled away for an 89-73 win over the Vulcans behind Pace Prosser's (Berlin, Pa./Berlin Brothersvalley) season-high 30 points. That left a fourth meeting with Indiana (Pa.). Gannon erased a six-point halftime deficit to win 81-74 as Prosser dropped in 24 points. The sophomore guard was named the regional MVP and Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia/Marist Catholic College North Shore) earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.
• Head coach Easton Bazzoli was recently named the NABC Div. II Atlantic Region Co-Coach of the Year and was selected the PSAC West Coach of the Year. Bazzoli has a 58-10 record in his second season. He became the fastest coach to reach 50 career wins. Bazzoli led Gannon to a 27-7 record in his first season as head coach and was an assistant coach on the 2023-24 team that finished at 32-3.
• Prosser topped the 1,000-point mark in Gannon's semifinal win vs. IUP. He became the first Gannon player to reach 1,000 career points since Adam Blazek in 2013-14 and the 27th overall. He is just the fourth Golden Knight to do it in two seasons (Glen Summors, Darryl Freeman, Troy Nesmith). Prosser boosted his career total to 1,127 points in the quarterfinal win and now has 642 points this season. That is the fourth-highest season total.  
• Two other Golden Knights have reached 1,000 combined career points while playing at two different schools. Senior swingman Victor Desmond (Onalaska, Wisc./Onalaska) topped 1,000 points recently against Pitt-Johnstown. He played two seasons at Des Moines Area Community College, totaling 600 points, before joining the Golden Knights a year ago. He has 1,045 overall career points. Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia/Marist Catholic College North Shore) joined the personal 1,000-point club in the PSAC quarterfinal win over East Stroudsburg. Including two seasons at St. Cloud State, where he piled up 635 points, the junior guard/forward now sits at 1,093 points.  
• Prosser was one of three players to earn All-PSAC West honors recently. The sophomore guard earned a spot on the All-PSAC West first team after earning second team honors as a freshman. Gannon had two players selected to the second team with redshirt junior forward Precious Idiaru (Speyer, Germany/LA Premier Prep) and sophomore guard Lucas Sekasi (Washington, DC/Jackson-Reed) on the second unit. Prosser has since been named to both the NABC All-Atlantic Region Team and D2CCA All-Atlantic Region Team. 

Scouting Oklahoma Baptist:
Record:  31-3, 20-2 GAC
Head Coach:  Jason Eaker (148-84, 8th year)
Top Players:  Terry Coner Jr. (G, 6-0, Jr., 19.9 ppg., 3.7 rpg., 67-of-180 3's, 181-of-253 FTs, 109 asts., 60 stls.); Joshua Uduomoh (G, 6-4, Sr., 13.0 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 31-of-86 3's, 64 asts.); Jackson Greene (F, 6-7, Sr., 13.1 ppg., 5.1 rpg., 32-of-121 3's, 23 blks.); Erik Madrid (C, 7-2, So., 9.4 ppg., 6.3 rpg., 71.4 FG%, 44 blks.)

• Oklahoma Baptist is making its first appearance in the Elite Eight and opened with a bang. The Bison knocked off No. 2 seed and previously undefeated Cal State East Bay 78-55 in Wednesday's second semifinal. Oklahoma Baptist won the Central Region championship, the first men's team from the Great American Conference to do so.
• Head coach Jason Eaker is in his eighth season at the helm and has led the Bison to the NCAA Tournament twice. He was named the GAC Coach of the Year. He has guided Oklahoma Baptist to a 31-3 record, the most since the team moved to Division II in 2016. The Bison entered the Elite Eight ranked eighth in the final NABC Div II Top 25.
• The Bison feature three players averaging in double figures, led by Terry Coner Jr. A 6-foot-0 junior, Coner was named Oklahoma Baptist's first NABC All-American earlier this week and was the Great American Conference Player of the Year. A three-time All-GAC honoree Coner is averaging 19.9 ppg. with a team-high 108 assists and 60 steals. He has made 67-of-180 3-pointers and has been to the charity stripe 253 times, making 181.           
• Three other Bison earned All-GAC accolades. In addition to Coner, Jackson Greene was a first team All-GAC selection while Erik Madrid and Joshua Udoumoh earned honorable mention honors. Greene, a 6-foot-7 senior, averages 13.1 ppg. and 5.1 rpg. Udoumoh is a 6-foot-4 senior who comes in at 13.0 ppg. and 5.3 rpg. Madrid stands 7-foot-2 and comes off a 14-rebound effort vs. Cal State East Bay. He averages 9.4 ppg. but is shooting 71.4 percent from the floor while pulling down a team-high 6.3 rpg.