LIVONIA, Mich. – The Crusaders' Men's Basketball team was rewarded with a No. 5 seed in the 2024 NAIA National Tournament for their spectacular season and winning the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Regular Season Championship. Madonna was placed in the Listen Quadrant of the 64-team bracket.

The Crusaders (25-6, 19-3) will face off against the No. 12 seeded Defenders of Dordt University (Iowa) (19-10, 12-8) Friday night at 6:00 p.m. inside of Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena. The Defenders are out of the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) and received an at-large bid. The Defenders come into the first round of the NAIA tournament losing five out of their last eight games. Despite their late struggles, Dordt has some good key players making them a dangerous first round team. The Defenders are led by their backcourt with four guards averaging in double digits. They are led by sophomore Lucas Lorenzen who is averaging 20.8 ppg, 0.8 apg, 6.9 rpg.  He has scored in double-figures in 27 of 29 games played, has 19 games with 20-or-more points and two double-doubles. Earlier this season, Lorenzen became the 45th player in program history to score 1,000 career points and his 91 three-pointers this season ranks second all-time in a single season at Dordt (Cliff Warner - 177 in 2012-13).

Bryce Coppock averages 17.6 ppg, 1.7 apg, and 4.9 rpg. Connor Millikan averages 12.9 ppg, 0.9 apg, 4.0 rpg, and lastly Luke Rankin averages 11.2 ppg, 6.8 apg, and 3.2 rpg. As a team, the Defenders are averaging 88.3 points per contest, shooting 50.0% from the field and 38.2% from three. Last game out the Defenders finished their regular season with a loss in the first round of their conference tournament against Concordia University (Neb.) with a final score of 83-87. 

On the other end of the court, the Crusaders have a big-three of their own with juniors Brendan Young, Isaac Anderson, and Matthew MacLellan. Young leads the team with 17.7 ppg and a conference-leading 9.1 rebounds per game. Young received first-team all-conference honors and finished third in WHAC Player of the Year voting. Anderson also received first-team all-conference honors, averaging 17.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, and 1.6 steals per game. Anderson also led the WHAC in free throws made with 128. Rounding out the big-three is their big-man, MacLellan, who averages 12.3 points and 5.2 rpg while shooting nearly 30-percent from three. MacLellan also received second-team all-conference honors in the WHAC.

The Crusaders finished on top of the WHAC at the end of conference play as regular season champs for the first time in program history. They won a program-high 19 conference games during the 2023-24 season. In their most recent outing, the Crusaders made it to the WHAC Tournament Championship game with hopes to win both the regular season and tournament championships. However, they were defeated by the #RV Cornerstone Golden Eagles 88-73 last Saturday.

This is the Crusaders' second-straight NAIA National Tournament appearance and the first time hosting the Tournament in school history. The Crusaders won their first National Tournament game last year when they bested Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) 94-67. They will hope to pick up their second program win tomorrow against the Defenders.

UP NEXT:

The winner of Madonna and Dordt will face the winner of No. 4 seeded Roosevelt University (Ill.) and the No. 13 seeded Shawnee State University (Ohio) on Saturday, March 16th at 4:00 p.m. in ACCU Arena. The winner of that matchup will advance to the NAIA Final Site in Kansas City next week for the Round of 16.


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