IS THIS HEAVEN?: OKWU to start holy hoops title quest in Iowa
The Oklahoma Wesleyan University men’s team prays prior to a home game. The Eagles play Friday in the NAIA national men’s basketball tournament in Sioux, Iowa.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
March 13, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
After having closed out the regular season like a rampaging elephant with its tail on fire, the men’s basketball team of Oklahoma Wesleyan University are hoping to catch another fiery blast of momentum through the NAIA national men’s basketball tournament starting Friday.
The tourney begins with 16 four-team regionals. The format is single elimination.
OKWU is assigned to Sioux Center, Iowa, and will battle Mid-America Christian University (MACU) (22-8) at 1:30 p.m. in the first round.
If the Eagles were to make a charge to the Final Four, they’d have to surprise a lot of knowledgable observers. Tourney bracket makers made them a No. 7 seed — consigning them to the middle of the pack of contenders.
It all starts against MACU. A victory would propel the Eagles into the Sweet 16 — and a likely showdown against No. 2 seed Dordt (Iowa) University on its home court..
Never count the Eagles out.
OKWU head coach Donnie Bostwick — who has one national championship (2009) on his resume along with several Final Four appearances — knows what it takes to win the tough ones. He’s survived more than his share of sweat-soaked, gut-checked, dramatic slobber-knocker thrillers — and came out on top in most of them.
But let’s be honest — the odds for postseason success are stacked heavily against the Eagles this year.
So what?
Bostwick has put together an amazing career— including 490 wins, 17 seasons of NAIA/NAIA-II national tourney appearances and 24 wins tourney wins in 18 seasons — by defying doubters and eviscerating the phantom of lackluster expectations.
The OKWU Eagles are 10-1 in first-round NAIA/NAIA-II national tourney games— a stupefying number — during his tenures at OKWU (2007-11, 2017-present) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (2011-17).
Bostwick is anxious to record win No. 491 next Friday against MACU.
“I’ve watched them (Mid-America Christian University) quite a bit,” said Bostwick. “We played them last year. … They’re very athletic. Their coach has won a national title. … You look at our common opponents and they have some good wins. This will be one of those games where whoever plays the best that day will win.”
Should the Eagles leapfrog over MACU, they’ll likely collide smack dab into Dordt, the No. 2 seed in their quadrant.
The Eagles will be taking just one game at a time.
“We know the path to the Promised Land on the other side,” he said. “We’re always talking about other teams as our enemy or our opponent, but Satan is our real enemy so we play with no fear.”
This year has been one of Bostwick’s most challenging. The Eagles sputtered to an uncharacteristic 9-6 start and plummeted out of the NAIA Top 25 for the first time in several years. Despite a 14-game win streak near the end of the season, OKWU barely clawed back into the rankings at No. 23.
Injuries to vital players — chiefly senior dynamo Jaden Lietzke — contributed to OKWU’s woes the first half of the season.
These rugged events also forced Bostwick to promote some inexperienced players into key roles, led by Issac Stanek, who would solidify a starting spot even after some of his regulars returned to health.
Ethan Williams, Amari Woods and Jensen Knowles would be other players who gained valuable varsity experience during the lineup shake-up.
“We’re just a better team as a result,” Bostwick said. “I think we have a better chance to advance. We’ve been a good road team. We’ve got a lot of really good wins on the road.”
As mentioned, Bostwick has been here before — on the threshold of a potential thunderous run through the national tourney.
The keys?
“We are healthy,” Bostwick said. “It’s about the leadership and team taking over and really saying: ‘We don’t want to go home.’ We’ve got three really good seniors (Lietzke, D.J. Talton and Dylan Phillip) who have been with me a long time. They are tremendous leaders for us. They set the tone. … You just come in as a group, stay unified and do the little things well, rebounding and playing hard.”
Bostwick also characterized the support of the Bartlesville community as “awesome,” which is another reason he hopes the Eagles advance to the NAIA finals’ site in Kansas City in order to make it a shorter trip for fans from Bartlesville.
Within less than a week the arduous postseason odyssey — which Bostwick has oft-said is tied in with the team’s perpetual desire to honor the Almighty — begins for the Eagles. It’s not a pot o ‘gold but a pathway strewn with glory that awaits at the end of the fluctuating rainbow.
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Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s head coach Donnie Bostwick is always seen holding a bible while coaching from the bench.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOSTWICK’S YEAR-BY-YEAR RECORD
(Note: Conference record is in parentheses.)
OKWU — 2007-08: 26-8 (8-4)
OKWU — 2008-09: 35-2 (11-1)
OKWU — 2009-10: 30-5 (9-3)
OKWU — 2010-11: 29-5 (12-2)
SAGU — 2011-12: 27-11 (16-8)
SAGU — 2012-13: 33-5 (20-2)
SAGU — 2013-14: 26-6 (17-3)
SAGU — 2014-15: 22-11 (11-7)
SAGU — 2015-16: 20-13 (10-8)
SAGU — 2016-17: 24-10 (12-6)
OKWU — 2017-18: 26-9 (15-7)
OKWU — 2018-19: 30-4 (22-2)
OKWU — 2019-20: 26-8 (17-7)
OKWU — 2020-21: 21-7 (13-4)
OKWU — 2021-22: 34-3 (22-2)
OKWU — 2022-23: 27-5 (20-2)
OKWU — 2023-24: 31-3 (20-2)
OKWU — 2004-25*: 23-7 (19-3)
* Season ongoing
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BOSTWICK CAREER RECORDS BY SCHOOL
OKWU — 338-66 (.837), Conference (188-39)
SAGU — 152-56 (.731), Conference (86-32)