KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Ides of March proved to be a lucky day for the Lindsey Wilson College men's basketball team as the unseeded Blue Raiders upset No. 15-seeded San Diego Christian College 83-72 in the opening round of the 69th Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship.

The Blue Raiders (23-9) shot a blistering 11-of-14 from behind the three-point line -- a school record 78.6 percent -- to advance to the tournament's second round. LWC plays the winner of the Louisiana State-Shreveport-Southern Polytechnic (Ga.) State game (which was played late Wednesday) at 4:30 p.m. CT on Friday, March 17.In addition to scorching the Hawks (22-10) from the outside, Lindsey Wilson was just as solid from the free-throw line, hitting 26-of-31 attempts for 83.9 percent.

The Blue Raiders also out-rebounded San Diego Christian 25-21. The Hawks entered the game as one of the best rebounding teams in the NAIA. Hawk junior forward Rowan Gray, who was averaging almost 10 rebounds a game, was held to just two rebound thanks to solid play in the paint by Blue Raider junior center Anthony Labka.

"We told our players that we had to have plus-five rebounding against a very good rebounding team ... and we said we had to get to the free throw line and hit those," said Lindsey Wilson coach Paul Peck, whose Blue Raider teams are now 4-3 in the NAIA tournament. "It was a very good win against a very good basketball team."

Lindsey Wilson set the game's tone early, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. The Hawks came back to tie the score at 19- 19 with 6:41 left in the half and then at 30-30 at the 2:36 mark, but LWC closed out the first half with a strong 10-3 run. For the first half, the Blue Raiders shot 57.1 percent from the field.

"I thought it was important for us right off the bat to jump right on them in the beginning because that is important in the NAIA tournament," Peck said.

LWC opened the second half with a deliberate 12-2 run in the first four minutes to open a 52-35 lead with 15:48 left in the game on one of John Fitzgerald's three three-pointers.

The Blue Raider lead swelled to 18 points when sophomore forward Lloyd Lewis -- who transferred to Lindsey Wilson from San Diego Christian -- canned one of his game's three three-pointers to give LWC a 60-42 lead at the 13:07 mark.

But the Blue Raiders then experienced a dearth of points for almost the next six minutes. Aside from a Brandon Adams three-pointer, the LWC offense stalled while several Blue Raiders accumulated a rash of personal fouls. Meanwhile, the Hawks went on a 12-3 run to narrow the lead to 63-54 with 8:10 left in the game.

The Hawks pulled to within 68-63 with 5:04 left on two free throws by Rowan Gray. But then the Blue Raiders defense took over the rest of the game, holding San Diego Christian to just one more field goal -- a three-pointer by guard Drew Sanchez -- for the rest of the game. Lindsey Wilson connected on 13-of-14 free throws down the stretch to ice the first-round win.

LWC was led in scoring by senior forward Stephen Russell's 19 points. The Nashville, Tenn., native was 3-of-4 on three-point shots and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. Six of Russell's free throws came inside the game's final 6:30, including four inside the final 44 seconds. Lewis and senior guard Scott Cook each added 13 points. Cook also dished out a game-high nine assists, and Lewis collected a game-high six rebounds.

For San Diego Christian, senior guard Tyler Hayes scored a game-high 22 points. Gray added 15 points and Sanchez posted 13 points.

The Hawks hit 54.2 percent of their shots and scored three more field goals than the Blue Raiders for the game. But LWC hit six more three-pointers and outscored the Hawks by 11 points at the free-throw line.

"We did all the things we had to do I felt to win the basketball game," Peck said. "Our kids stepped up, ran their half-court offense, didn't take bad shots and did what they needed to do to win. They did exactly what they were supposed to do, and they played exactly as they were supposed to play. They played Lindsey Wilson basketball."