When it was over, Graceland University’s Will Nelson marched the basketball to the sideline and slammed it on the scorer’s table.

“That was a statement that we’re not going anywhere,” said a beaming Nelson after the fifth-seeded Yellowjackets stormed from behind and upset LSU Shreveport 87-80 on Monday night in front of 5,526 fans at the NAIA Division I men’s basketball tournament semifinals at Municipal Auditorium.

“We can be down 30 at halftime, we’re not going anywhere. We’re together, we’re a team, we fight until there are zeros on the scoreboard.”

Graceland wasn’t down by 30, but the Yellowjackets, competing in their first NAIA Tournament, trailed 51-37 early in the second half when Nelson played a pivotal role in a pulsating 20-4 run against LSU Shreveport, a No. 1 seed that finished its season 30-5.

By winning, Graceland (28-10) made history in becoming the first school from the Overland Park-based Heart of America Athletic Conference to reach an NAIA Division I men's championship game, much to the delight of the legion of boisterous fans who drove 116 miles from Lamoni, Iowa.

Graceland will face LSU Alexandria, which beat William Penn (Iowa) 84-75, for the title at 7 p.m. Tuesday. William Penn (30-5) was trying to make it an all-Heart final, but instead bowed out in the semifinals for the second straight year.

“This is bigger than basketball for Graceland University,” coach Craig Doty said. “This is about a university. This is about a community. This is about an alumni base that is strong.

“You saw our community come out and support us. This was a home game for us. We probably drew 3,000 people here from a town of 2,200.”

Nelson, a 6-foot-3 forward from Raytown High School, suffered through a miserable first half (0 for 5 from the field) as Graceland trailed 46-34 at the break. LSU Shreveport’s Benjamin Batts pierced Graceland’s zone defense for seven of his team’s 11 first-half three-pointers en route to 29-point performance, but Doty believed the Yellowjackets had the Pilots right where they wanted them.

“We felt good going into halftime, despite being down double digits,” Doty said, “just because we thought we were getting better shots than our opponent was.

“There’s no way they were going to hit 11 threes in the second half. We felt down the stretch, if we stayed together, and they didn’t stay as hot, we will be able to sustain. This team believes. “

Nelson set the tone by opening the second half with a three-pointer, and he contributed nine points to the 20-4 run before finishing with 22 points, right behind guard LT Davis’ 28.

“He gives us toughness,” Doty said of Nelson. “He’s the one kid who needs to be yelled at to get going sometimes. We got into him a little bit at halftime. We let him know how important this was that he play well. The first thing he does is go out there and bang in a three … and we knew at that time it takes a little nudge.”

Nelson, who made eight of nine shots in the second half, heard his teammates and the crowd.

“All I heard from my teammates, was, 'I believe in you,’’’ he said. “Without them, nothing would have happened. It’s amazing. We talked about not giving up. That’s what we do best, we get discipline from the coaches, and we played off the crowd.”

Graceland typically rotates just six or seven players, and that’s been good enough to win the Heart of America postseason tournament and now reach the NAIA title game.

“We were preseason picks to be fifth in the conference this year,” said Doty, who still operates with the equivalent of six scholarships that the program was allotted when it was a Division II school. “We work with a fraction of the scholarship resources of all of our opponents. For us to represent the Heart of America Conference in the national championship, that’s pretty special.”

LSU Alexandria is a heartbreaker

LSU Alexandria broke the Heart on Monday night.

Like William Penn, LSU Alexandria (29-7) also lost in the semifinals last year, when it was bidding for an undefeated season. But the fourth-seeded Generals, in just their fourth season of NAIA Division I play, defeated their second Heart of America team in as many games, having beaten Peru (Neb.) State in the quarterfinals.

The Generals were led by Brandon Moss’ 21 points.

“The last two games … we did call this a road game,” LSU Alexandria coach Larry Cordaro said. “We told our players, we were the underdog, which we were. That was a No. 1 seed we knocked off, and in order to win a national championship, you’ve got to beat quality teams.

“Our guys really turned on late in the second half, and made plays when it mattered in crunch time.”

The Generals have not forgotten the feeling of seeing an unbeaten season end in last year’s 65-63 loss to Life (Ga.) in last year’s semifinals.

“We’ve got one more game,” said Cordaro, whose team has won 11 straight. “I want it so bad for these guys … we came two games short last year … this goes for all the players who have started this program for four years. We’ve come a long way.

“We told our players about five weeks ago, we can be fourth in the Red River (Athletic Conference) or we can be first in the nation. And about that stretch, our guys decided, we’re not dropping in the Red River rankings. We got the No. 2 seed and won the conference tournament, and here we are building some strong momentum down the stretch.”

William Penn led LSU Alexandria by as many as 11 points in the first half, but the score was tied at 37 at halftime. The Statesmen could have had the edge but missed all five of their free throws in the first half, and at one point in the second half were 3 for 12 from the line.

William Penn led 56-55 midway through the second half when seldom-seen Trent Brinkley came off the LSU Alexandria bench and scored the Generals’ next eight points in an 8-2 run.

After William Penn drew within 67-62, the Generals broke the game open with a 12-0 run.

The Statesmen gave their fans hope when Aakim Saintil banked in a deep three-pointer and was fouled for a four-point play, followed by Terrell Thompson’s three-pointer that made it 82-75, but that’s as close as William Penn got.

Thompson led the Statesmen with 26 points, and Saintil added 20.