The Master’s Seeded Eighth in 32-Team NAIA Tournament

The Master’s College is seeded eighth in the 32-team NAIA men’s basketball championships, which begin Tuesday at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Okla.

The Mustangs (29-4), coming off Monday’s 107-99 overtime victory over Western New Mexico in the championship game of the NAIA Far West Region Independents tournament, will play 25th-seeded Southwestern Oklahoma (20-11) in a first-round game at 9:45 p.m. CST on Wednesday.

If Master’s wins, it will play the winner of the St. Mary’s (Tex.)-Central Washington game Thursday.

“I don’t know anything about Southwestern Oklahoma except their record,” second-year Master’s Coach Bill Oates said. “But we’ll find out a lot more in the next few days.”

Master’s, which has won 16 consecutive games and 22 of its last 23, will be looking for its first NAIA tournament victory. The Mustangs were seeded 10th last year, but they were upset in the first round by Georgia Southwestern 98-86. Six of the top eight players from that team are back, including starters James Mosley, Mike Penberthy, Leo Gorauskas and Doug Leaman. Penberthy had career highs of 37 points and 13 assists in the victory over Western New Mexico and Leaman scored 20 points, including a three-point basket with 10 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

Belmont (Tenn.), which is 34-1, and Life (Ga.), which is 31-2, are seeded first and second. Defending champion Oklahoma City (28-2) and Georgia Southwestern (28-4) are third and fourth.