Bishop Scores 24 in Return to Help Tigers into NAIA Second Round

GEORGETOWN, Ky. – The No. 3 Georgetown College men's basketball team (23-7) defeated No. 14 Indiana University-Kokomo (24-8) 86-73 in the first round of the 2026 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championships hosted in Davis-Reid Alumni Gym on Friday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Georgetown relied on Rashad Bishop early and often in this one as the senior tallied 16 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. Bishop owned half of the Tigers' points by the first media timeout as Georgetown held a 12-10 advantage. The Cougars hung with the Tigers through most of the first half, even pushing ahead briefly behind a pair of free throws at the 11:54 mark. Isaiah Mason erased the deficit with a 3-pointer. The game was tied at 25-25 at the second media timeout. IU-Kokomo took its largest lead of the evening over the next stretch of play, sinking a 3-pointer and converting on a dunk to lead 30-25. The final eight minutes of play saw both sides score 12 points as Georgetown took a 42-37 lead into halftime.

The Tigers figured things out fairly quickly in the second half as Aden Nyekan added 11 and Isaiah Mason put up 12 to help push Georgetown cross the finish line. By the under-15-minute media timeout, the Tigers had the lead stretched to 12 and increased it further (to 18) by the under-10 timeout. Georgetown's largest lead of the night of 24 came with 3:51 to play when Nyekan hit a layup to make it an 84-60 game. Georgetown closed out the final minutes for the 86-73 victory.

THE TEAM 
Georgetown shot 47.9% from the field. The Tigers were 6-21 (28.6%) from deep and were 12-14 (85.7%) at the free-throw line. GC outrebounded IUK, 43-32. The Tigers picked up 23 assists while both sides created six steals.

THE PLAYERS
* Rashad Bishop had a team-high 24 points with seven rebounds, assists, and a block.
* Aden Nyekan added 18 points with nine rebounds and a steal.
* Isaiah Mason also finished with 18 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

UP NEXT
The Tigers take on the winner of #6 Bethel (23-7)/#11 Life (20-10) tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. in Davis-Reid Alumni Gym to try and advance to the Round of 16.