After posting a 23-9 season record - including a perfect 12-0 in conference play - the Men's Basketball team is heading to the NCCAA DII National Tournament for a fourth consecutive season. MCC qualifies for the tournament as an at-large selection earning the #2 seed following a run at the Southwest Region Tournament that saw the Thunder finish second. The team will matchup with the defending national champions, #7 seed Campbellsville University Harrodsburg, on Wednesday March 8, 2023 at 6:00 pm in Joplin, Mo. The Pioneers were responsible for ending the Thunder run in the Final Four a season ago. Should MCC win on Wednesday they would advance to the Final Four where they would see the winner of the #3 seed Crown Polars and the #6 seed Ozark Christian College Ambassadors at 4:00 pm. 

"We are blessed to have the chance to continue our season," commented Head Coach Jordan Strom. "We felt as though we had earned an opportunity to keep playing with the season that we had and we're grateful that the selection committee saw things the same way that we did." 

Manhattan Christian College Men's Basketball is making its 19th appearance all time in the NCCAA National Tournament - including the fourth straight trip to the tournament. The Thunder won their 21st regular season conference title and 15th conference tournament title in 2022-2023 while the program won its 900th game all time this season in a thrilling 71-69 victory at Faith Baptist Bible College on January 21st. This team saw four members reach the 1,000 career point mark this season when Jordan White, Ferdinand Handy, Dyelan Reed and Taymont Lindsey all eclipsed the milestone in different games. White is an NCCAA DII Maravich Award finalist and was named MVP of the Midwest Christian College Conference and first team all-region, Handy was a first team all-conference performer and named to the second team all-region, Lindsey was named honorable mention in both the conference and the region while Reed was selected as a second team all-conference member. 

"It's a blessing to be able to go to the national tournament all four years we've been here," stated senior Taymont Lindsey. "No other senior group can say that they have done that and we're excited to get back on the floor and do our best to make it a memorable finish." 

MCC will leave tonight at 6:00 pm and there will be a sendoff for the team in the parking lot behind Howie's Activity Center at 5:50 pm. All games will be streamed on the NCCAA Network ($) and you can find the tournament page here. 

NCCAA DII National Tournament Seeds: 

1. Kansas Christian College (Overland Park, KS)
2. Manhattan Christian College (Manhattan, KS)
3. Crown College (St.Bonifacous, MN)
4. Champion Christian College (Hot Springs, AR)
5. Great Lakes Christian College (Lansing, MI) 
6. Ozark Christian College (Joplin, MO)
7. Campbellsville University Harrodsburg (Harrodsburg, KY)
8. Toccoa Falls College (Toccoa Falls, GA)

NCCAA Network Live Stream Link

NCCAA Live Stats Link

Follow the team on social media at MCC Athletics on Facebook, @mccmbb on Twitter and @mccmb_ on Instagram

Saturday evening in Haviland, KS proved to be a fun one as the Thunder would erase a five point halftime deficit against the third seeded Eagles from Faith Baptist Bible College to win the game 83-64 and claim their third straight Midwest Christian College Conference Tournament Championship. 

MCC would advance to the championship game after knocking off the fifth seeded Eagles from Emmaus Bible College 93-52 on Friday night. At the conference awards ceremony prior to the game seniors Jordan White (MVP), Ferdinand Handy (1st Team) and Taymont Lindsey (HM) along with junior Dyelan Reed (2nd Team) were recognized as all-conference performers. 

"All the credit in the world to Faith. They compete so well all the time and are a tough matchup for us. I'm proud of our guys. A fourth consecutive regular season conference title and a third straight conference tournament title for this group of seniors is something they'll always have and something they should be proud of. Now, we need to turn the page and focus on our upcoming first round game at the region tournament," stated Head Coach Jordan Strom. 

All eyes now turn to the upcoming NCCAA SW Region Tournament hosted by Randall University in Moore, Oklahoma this coming week. The Thunder have earned the #2 seed in the North division and will play the #3 seed in the South division, Arlington Baptist University, at 3:00 pm on Thursday, Feb. 23rd. MCC has not won a game at the region tournament either of the last two seasons - including a heartbreaking 81-88 loss to Arlington Baptist in the 2021 region tournament. Should the Thunder win they would advance to a semifinal contest on Friday night at 7:00 pm against the winner of #1S Champion Christian and whoever they would play from the 4S/5S play-in game. 

The Thunder are currently ranked #8 in the NCCAA DII Coaches Poll and #4 in the NCCAA Power Ratings. All games will be streamed live at www.rusaints.com and updates will be made on social media. You can follow the team here and on twitter @mccmbb and instagram @mccmb_. 

NCCAA SW Region Tournament Seeds:

1N. Kansas Christian College
2N. Manhattan Christian College 
3N. Spurgeon College
4N. Ozark Christian College
5N. Barclay College 

1S. Champion Christian College 
2S. Dallas Christian College
3S. Arlington Baptist University
4S. SW Adventist University
5S. Randall University 

The Midwest Christian College Conference finished up play over the weekend, setting up this coming week match-ups for the Conference Tournament down in Haviland, KS hosted by Barclay College.

Starting off on the women’s side, the Lady Thunder finished up play by hosting Ozark Christian on Saturday. A very fast paced, up and down game but MCC battled all four quarters eventually falling 72-46. The Thunder finished with a 4-17 overall record, 4-8 in conference. Due to a 3-way tie with Calvary University and Central Christian College of the Bible, there was a draw for 4, 5 and 6 place. Manhattan ended up get the 6 seed for this weekend tournament where they will see Barclay College the number 3 seed on Thursday, February 16 at 6:00pm. Guaranteed two games the women will play on Friday; time will depend on if they win or lose.

For the men’s squad, they also hosted Ozark Christian this past Saturday. A night of celebrating five seniors, the Thunder shot lights out all night to pull out a 90-44 win. With this win, MCC finished the season 12-0 in conference giving them their fourth straight Regular Season Conference title. With one more game to play against Southwest Region Spurgeon College, MCC is setting at an 18-8 overall record right now. Heading into this weeks tournament Manhattan Christian has the number 1 seed and will have a bye the first round. They will play Friday, February 17 at 8pm against the winner of (4) Central Christian College of the Bible and (5) Emmaus Bible College. 

All games will be livestreamed on the Barclay College YouTube Channel.  

Manhattan Christian Thunder basketball squads closed out their non-conference season and are both gearing up to start conference play. The Midwest Christian College Conference will start this Friday, January 6 with a double header match up with Emmaus Bible College at the MCCC Classic held at Calvary University. 

The Lady Thunder had a tough non-conference schedule where they saw a handful of top NAIA teams. Having an 0-7 record heading into play this weekend doesn't reflect the true abilities this team equips. This season MCC has a strong inside game they are looking to focus on, but also a talented outside shooting to help balance it all out. With the tougher schedule, the ladies were able to progressively get better and kept a positive attitude. 

On the men's side, they are heading into this weekend with a 5-6 record. Navigating some injuries early on, also with a tough schedule, the Thunder are hoping to break a 4-game losing skid and get back on track. Returning 10 from last year and adding 5 new guys, MCC is continuing to come together, build and get better each day as a unit. 

Friday the ladies will start the morning off with a 10:00am tip time against Emmaus with the guys to follow at 12:00pm. They both will then turn around and play Faith Baptist Bible College on Saturday, January 5. Women will play at 2:00pm, men at 4:00pm. 

The first home game of 2023 will be Saturday, January 14 where MCC will take on Central Christian College of the Bible.