Morningside advanced to the NAIA II Men’s Basketball National Championship Quarterfinals with a second round victory against Warner Pacific.

Tyler Borchers

Brody Egger

Fifth-ranked Morningside advanced into Saturday’s quarterfinals of the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship with an 84-73 victory against No. 12 Warner Pacific in Friday’s second round action in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Mustangs will take a 28-6 record into a 6 p.m. quarterfinal contest against No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan (28-7), which defeated Indiana Southeast 85-72 in its second round contest.

Morningside is in the NAIA II Quarterfinals for the first time since 2006, when it also defeated Warner Pacific (71-68) in the second round to get there.

Brody Egger poured in a game-high 25 points and Tyler Borchers posted his 11th double double of the season and his second double double of the national tournament with 20 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Mustangs also received double figure scoring production from Zach Imig with 12 points and Alex Borchers with 11. Matthew Hahn finished one bucket shy of twin figures with eight points.

Egger did much of his scoring from the free-throw line, where he converted 11 of 12 attempts, to go along with a four-for-nine shooting performance from the 3-point arc.

Zach Imig

Alex Borchers

Tyler Borchers, who ranks among the NAIA II national leaders in field goal accuracy, drilled eight of 13 floor shots and dealt five assists to match his career high.

Imig dealt seven assists to lead all performers.

Morningside made 27 of 56 field goal attempts for 48.2 percent and converted 21 of 23 free throw bids for 91.3 percent.

Warner Pacific made 16 of 18 free throw attempts for 88.9 percent, but was just 25 of 66 for a chilly 38.9 percent from the field.

Tyler Borchers’ 15 rebounds led the Mustangs to a slight 35-34 edge on the boards.

Morningside never trailed and the score was tied just once at 2-2. The Mustangs took the lead for good when a 3-pointer by Egger put them up 5-2.

Morningside took a 44-36 lead into the intermission and eventually led by a game-high 21 points on a basket by Imig that made the score 63-41 with 13:17 remaining.

Box Score