LISLE, Ill. - The second-ranked Benedictine University men's basketball team became the first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference team to make it out of the opening weekend of play in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championships, logging a home win over Hardin-Simmons University.

FINAL SCORE
Benedictine 85, Hardin-Simmons 64

THE DETAILS
• Hardin-Simmons opened the game by scoring the first four points in the opening minute
• Benedictine responded with seven consecutive points and did not trail again
• Luke Johnson made a layup to hand Benedictine the 5-4 lead with 18:17 left in the first half
• The first half run would continue as Benedictine tallied 11 straight after a bucket from Hardin-Simmons to move ahead by double figures
• Michael Blaszczyk drained a jumper to extend the lead to 16-6 with 14:15 to play in the first half
• Johnson knocked down a three-pointer with 13:10 to play to give Benedictine a 21-8 edge, marking a 21-4 run from the start of the contest
• The lead remained in double figures for the rest of the contest as Benedictine stretched the margin to 38-21 at the half
• Hardin-Simmons, who made 11 three-pointers and shot over 60 percent in Thursday's first round win, shot just 23.7 percent in the opening half and finished 1-for-12 from three-point range
• Three three-pointers from the visitors early in the second half brought the lead down to 42-32, but Benedictine quickly pushed the lead back to 16
• Benedictine led by 20 points with just over seven minutes to play and went on to lead by as many as 27 in the win, remaining perfect on the season
• Benedictine won just the second game for the conference in NCAA play, and notched the first tournament win for head coach Keith Bunkenburg in his sixth appearance

FROM THE COACH
"We were able to come out and set the tone of the game right from the beginning," head coach Keith Bunkenburg said. "We knew going in that Hardin-Simmons was a solid three-point shooting team and we did a great job of defending and rebounding. Every night someone else can step up for us and tonight we rode the hot hand. Congrats to Hardin-Simmons for a great run and an outstanding season."

STAT LEADERS
• Blaszczyk led all scorers with 29 points, hitting five triples
• Johnson collected his 15th double-double with 20 points and 12 boards, adding four blocks
• Tim Reamer also reached double digits with 10 off the bench
• Benedictine shot 54.3 percent in the second half and finished the game at 48.6 percent while limiting Hardin-Simmons to 36.9 percent
• Benedictine held a 51-33 advantage on the glass and made 11 three-pointers

UP NEXT
Benedictine (28-0) draws #10 Ohio Wesleyan next Friday night at a site to be announced by the NCAA on Sunday