KANSAS CITY, Mo. – College of Idaho never trailed and built a double-digit lead less than five minutes in Monday night, topping Arizona Christian University 72-45 in the NAIA Fab Four at Municipal Auditorium in Downtown Kansas City.

Four Yotes found double figures, led by Samaje Morgan’s game-high 14, backed up by Straton Rogers 11, and 10 each from Tyler Robinett and Drew Wyman. Amaechi Chukwu was the lone ACU player in double figures, scoring 13, as the Firestorm were limited to 26.3 percent from the floor. The Yotes, by contrast, finished with 32 points in the paint, including eight fast-break points, and C of I outrebounded ACU 47-43.

The win moved College of Idaho to 34-2 and into the 2025 NAIA Men’s Basketball Championship Game, Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Arizona Christian (30-5) went without a bucket for almost four minutes, and Morgan darted to a breakaway lay-up for C of I after a steal, the last basket in a 9-0 run to start the game. C of I led 16-2 at the first media timeout, with 14:08 left in the half, and at 12:36, Morgan struck again, uncontested at the rim to put the Yotes in front 20-3.

Johnny Radford extended C of I’s lead to 19, draining a 3-pointer on the right wing and drawing a foul, making the following free throw to go up 26-7 with 9:56 before intermission, and through 10 minutes, C of I had already forced Arizona Christian in to six turnovers. The Yotes’ defense had the Firestorm shooting 19 percent by the end of the half, and C of I was 42 percent in the same stretch, taking a 22-point lead to the break, 38-16.

Morgan was the game’s only double-digit scorer at the break with 10 first-half points, and the Yotes owned a 23-16 first-half advantage on the glass.

The Yotes used back-to-back fast-breaks by Rogers and Paul Wilson to lead 55-30 at the second-half under-10 timeout, and the Yotes could sense it after the next automatic stoppage, with 4:01 to play, when Wyman took a tipped pass that glanced off the backboard, rebounding and converting to go up 66-40. C of I held Arizona Christian to five points the rest of the way to secure a spot in Tuesday’s final.

Tuesday’s championship game between College of Idaho and the winner of the semifinal game between Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) and Oklahoma Wesleyan will air live on UEN and the NAIA Network, with links at www.naia.org/watch.