MARION, Ind. - The No. 25-ranked Indiana Tech men's basketball team kicked off the Marion Bracket of the 2022 NAIA Opening Round on Friday afternoon, where they defeated the #10 seed Southwestern MoundBuilders, 70-61.

In what was a fantastic "grind-it-out" battle, it was the senior duo of Rog Stein and Josh Kline's performances that pushed the Warriors past Southwestern. With just 46 seconds to play, it was Stein who scored at the basket plus the foul, and although he missed the and-one attempt, he got his own offensive rebound and got fouled once more, where the Warriors would ice the game away from the free throw line. Stein finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal while Kline finished put in 14 points, 14 boards, 2 blocks, and one steal. Grant Smith poured in 10 points to go along with three assists, two steals, two rebounds, and a block. Blake Davison came in off the bench and connected on a triple, scoring nine points along with two rebounds, a block and a steal. Despite struggling from the floor, Cory McKinney still managed to play extremely productive basketball for the Orange and Black, scoring eight points, grabbing eight boards, and dishing a couple of assists. Steve Helm also chipped in eight points, along with one assist and two rebounds. Jeremy Luciani and Lucas Lehrman scored a combined six points and four rebounds off the bench. 

Indiana Tech held Southwestern's top scoring duo (34.0 ppg) to just 23 points on 8-20 shooting from the floor. The Warriors have been known for dominating the opposition inside all season long, and despite the points in the paint being even at 36 apiece, Tech saw more contributions from bench (15-9) and won the rebounding battle (31-27), also allowing them to score more second chance points (7-3).

The Warriors (26-7) will look forward to tomorrow night as they'll take on either the #15 seed Montreat Cavaliers (21-9) or the #2 seeded Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats (26-6) for the third time this season. The contest will tip-off at 6:00 PM ET at Luckey Arena in Marion, Indiana.