The city of New Albany hosted a send-off celebration in honor of the IUS men’s and women’s basketball teams at the City-County Building in downtown New Albany on March 4.
“It’s great that the city was here to honor these athletes,” Joe Glover, IUS athletic director, said. “They’ve done a great job all year. It means a lot to our department to have the mayor, city officials and our city employees to have a day to recognize these teams and their accomplishments.”
The teams recently won their conference championships and traveled to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.
Bernie Merkel, women’s assistant head coach, said it’s quite an accomplishment.
“We’ve been saying that this is probably, if not the best, one of the best teams we’ve ever had,” Merkel said.
He said the women’s team set a school record of 27 wins, and they are also on a current 16-game winning streak, which is also a school record.
“It’s emotional,” Doug England, mayor of New Albany, said. “It makes me proud to live in New Albany and proud to be mayor at the time.”
The men traveled to Point Lookout, Mo., and the women traveled to Sioux City, Iowa.
This was be the men’s fourth year in a row going to the national tournament, and it was the women’s third year in a row.
“The sky is the limit for these young men,” men’s head coach Wiley Brown said in his speech during the send-off event.
He noted the accomplishments of the men’s team and highlighted the star player, Jazzmarr Ferguson, senior guard.
Ferguson recently won the award for Player of the Year, and he is also the all-time leading scorer for IU Southeast with more than 2,000 points.
During the send-off, the team said they hope Ferguson can help lead them to victory.
“I’m real excited,” OJ Bell, freshman forward, said. “All the people that have been to it told me about it, told me it was really fun up there. I’m just trying to go up there and bring the national championship home to IUS.”
The team left for their separate tournaments on Sunday, March 6.
The No. 17-ranked IUS men’s basketball team fell to Iowa Wesleyan, 86-75.
The No. 16-ranked IUS women’s basketball team was defeated by Briar Cliff, 71-57.
By ASHLEY AGNEW
Staff
aeagnew@umail.iu.edu
