The Men’s team started off the season with an incredible 14-0 record, taking their first loss of the season on Saturday January 6 in an away game vs Indiana University Southeast. Leading up to this matchup, the Pioneers were one of the only undefeated teams in the NAIA, with their unbelievable 14-0 start. The Pioneers still remain as the top team in the RSC and are still heavy favorites. The team is led by the returning leading scorers of last season: Guard Jalen Stamps and Forward Jo Valrie. Those two have been the leading scorers all season long, with Stamps averaging 20.1 points per game and Valrie averaging just under that, with 19.8 points per game.
New additions to the Pioneers have been nothing short of impressive. Jamisen Smith, transfer guard from IU East, is averaging just over 15 points per game. Nate Van, who has been a starter all season after spending the last one on the bench, is having a great year as well. Van is averaging 11 points per game. He is a hustle player, crashing the glass at any given opportunity. The big centers on the team, Jags Jhawar and Nazareth Fisher keep the paint locked down with their huge rebounds, blocks and downlow scoring. Fisher is a new addition to the team, being an incredible backup center for Jhawar. Eight of the Pioneers’ 14 wins were over or just under 30 point victories. Exclamation point wins like this showcase dominance from the Pioneers squad. The conference games are where the Pioneers jumped up on the NAIA rankings. Rio Grande was the one seed in the RSC East last season, and the Pioneers could not quite top them. This time around, they beat Rio by three in an away game on November 28. They followed that game with a conference win at home vs. the 2021 national championship winners, Shawnee State. The Pioneers then advanced to face off against their next conference opponent, Alice Lloyd. The Pioneers demolish the Eagles, and win 98-69. They proceeded to beat every team after that, leading up to the most recent game of the season, against IU Southeast.
IU Southeast won the RSC tournament last season, so this was no easy win for the Pioneers. The team had a slow start, as they were down 32-39 at the end of the first half. Jalen Stamps did not like this very much, as he went for an incredible 23 point second half. Unfortunately, this still resulted in the Pioneers falling just short, resulting in their eventual first defeat of the season. With this loss, the Pioneers were still at the top of the RSC, hoping to get into that NAIA top 25 list. The Pioneers will continue their conference road trip, with their next matchups being against Oakland City and Brescia, before coming back home to Pittsburgh.
