Lions have their own Blue Man Group in tow

JACKSON, Tenn. ? Four Vanguard University students have officially come down with a serious case of March Madness, NAIA style.

Seniors Brady Oliver and Tim Jones, as well as junior Jason Hardy, drove 30 straight hours from Costa Mesa to Jackson after classes closed for spring break on Friday.

The drive, they said, included a blizzard that began in Arizona and continued until they reached Albuquerque, N.M. That meant a white-knuckling seven hours behind the wheel for Oliver, who estimated visibility during the storm at about 20 feet.

Sophomore Chad Blake flew to Jackson to join his mates, who ? thanks to a little body paint and two jerseys, one of which Oliver sewed himself ? have become the Oman Arena version of Blue Man Group.

Blake and Hardy, stripped to the waist, have worn blue and gold body paint while cheering the Vanguard women’s basketball team to two victories in the NAIA Division I Championships at Oman Arena.

Jones has worn an old Vanguard road jersey and Oliver stitched together a blue replica Vanguard jersey with Russ and the No. 1 displayed onto the back, as a tribute to Lions’ Coach Russ Davis.

Hardy, Jones and Oliver are part of a male practice squad that Davis uses to scrimmage against his team.

After watching the women win in Wednesday’s first round, the four students decided on a whim to drive nine hours to Kansas City, Mo., to watch the Vanguard men’s team open play in the NAIA Division I Championships.

The Vanguard men were defeated in overtime by Georgetown (Ky.) on Thursday night, and the seesaw game left all four super-rooters hoarse as they piled into Hardy’s mother’s sport utility vehicle for the commute back to Jackson.

“We got back [to Jackson] at 7:30 a.m. [Friday],” said Hardy, the older brother of former Newport Harbor High girls’ soccer star Erin Hardy.

“Hopefully, we’ll get our voices back for [today],” Oliver said.

Davis said after Wednesday’s first-round win that he liked Oliver’s “Russ Jersey.”

Oliver said he would like to present Davis with the jersey to display in his trophy case, an idea to which Davis quipped: “There’s one thing I want to take home [from the tournament] and it’s not the Russ jersey.”

AT HOME ON THE ROAD

Defending NAIA Division I champion Union University of Jackson is the home team, but Vanguard, with five straight trips to the tournament, has generated several local fans.

Oman Arena features 12 banners touting Vanguard and Davis said several people told him they are rooting for the Lions, unless they are playing Union.

In addition, the Lions’ corporate sponsor for the tournament ? an architectural and engineering firm based in Jackson ? arranged for cheerleaders from a local high school to cheer at Vanguard games. They also borrowed a Lion mascot suit from another high school, which has been worn by “volunteers” during the first two games.

NEXT UP

Oklahoma Baptist, which Vanguard faces in today’s noon quarterfinal, outscored Montana-Western, 14-5, in the final 2:58 to claim a 64-53 second-round win Friday.

Junior forward Dilenny Castillo came off the bench to score 22 points and collect nine rebounds to lead the Bison (25-9). Castillo was 14 of 14 from the free-throw line.

Rachel Heins, a junior forward, had 14 points and senior guard Tabetha Eaton added 14. Both Heins (averaging 14 points) and Eaton (13.1 ppg) are All-Sooner Athletic Conference performers.

Oklahoma Baptist, making its 11th appearance in the NAIA Division I Championships, is in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1999.

The Bison opened the season 14-0. Three of their losses are to Oklahoma City, the tournament’s No. 3 seed overall seed.

Oklahoma Baptist defeated Lee of Tennessee, 67-53, in the first round. It was the first of four first-round games in which the No. 6 seeds defeated No. 3 seeds. Four eight-team brackets are all seeded 1-8.

QUALITY COMPANY

Besides Vanguard, the No. 1 overall seed, and Oklahoma City, other top seeds are Freed-Hardeman of Tennessee (No. 2) and Trevecca Nazarene of Tennessee (No. 4).