Langston University Men’s Basketball closed out their season at the national championship game with a heartbreaking 76-71 loss against Freed-Hardman.
Around 6:45 pm on March 24th, the No. 4-seeded Langston Men’s Basketball team looked to be on top of the world. The team that started at the very bottom of their national tournament bracket had just fought their way to the championship game the night before in overtime against the No. 3 seed Ave Maria.
As the time to tip-off began to wind down, Langston University staff, students, alumni, and fans poured into the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri, many of whom were freshly hopping off an almost six-hour drive, and by 7:00 pm, the ball was up, and the fight to win just one more game began.
This battle was a rematch of the 2024 NAIA national championship game, in which the Lions suffered another devastating loss.
Langston had a record of 29-7 this season, with players like guards Orlando Thomas and Antonio Lewis leading the team in scoring, and this game was no different.
Thomas, who is a senior, scored 20 of the Lions’ 76 points and, despite the outcome of the game, felt that the connection between his team was unbreakable and was what got them to the championship in the first place.
“Even when things got bad, …we just knew … we … had to stick together, and I felt like that carried us, um, to big wins when we needed to win.”
Alongside Thomas, Lewis had 10 points, and players Jay Wilson and Tajhari Cave both scored 8 points for the Lions in this game.
Thomas and Lewis were placed on the NAIA All-Tournament Team for their outstanding performances. In addition to them, Freshman guard Jaden Williams won the Charles S. Stevenson Hustle Award for being an integral part of the Lions’ success throughout the tournament.
Though the season did not end as any lion hoped, guard Matthew Cooper, a rising junior, is looking toward the future for his team, and he believes that future includes a national championship win next season.
“I feel like we do have a good chance of that. We got a lot of returning players, … And then the hope is, you know, to have everybody locked in like we did this season, to have that brotherhood bond as we had, and to continue, you know, to, … set a legacy down here.”
Layla Nickerson
Layla Nickerson is a sophomore broadcast journalism major with a minor in marketing. Her “why” as a student reporter is to be a storyteller of culture and community, in hopes of featuring all the aspects that LU has to offer, whether they are niche or grand. She believes that the work of The Gazette grants power to the students of Dear Langston by giving them a voice, and because of this, she knew it had to be something she was a part of. Outside of her journalistic tendencies, Layla loves immersing herself in other forms of media like music, film, TV, and occasionally reading. For any inquiries, she can be reached at layla.c.nickerson@langston.edu in Outlook as well as @layla_nickerson on Instagram.
