Bids stolen early, but could have been worse

Feb 26, 2022
The No. 3 seed in the Little East, Keene State comes away with the title.
 Keene State athletics photo
 

A couple of teams likely stole one of those 20 at-large bids to the 2022 Division III men's basketball NCAA Tournament in Saturday's play. But it could have been worse.

Yes, Skidmore knocked off RPI in the Liberty League semifinals and probably popped someone's NCAA Tournament bubble, And yes, a few minutes later Keene State took down Little East top seed Mass-Dartmouth in overtime and popped another one.

But fans dodged a bullet when Wabash outlasted Wooster in overtime in the NCAC final. And Emory edged Rochester in its last regular season game, probably keeping U of R too far down on the bubble to steal someone's at-large. Elmhurst defeated North Central as well, keeping the CCIW as a three-bid league.

Jeff Hunter threw down an alley-oop with 3.4 seconds left in overtime as Keene State overcame dismal free throw shooting and knocked off Mass-Dartmouth 71-69. The Owls (20-6) had a 3-pointer rim out at the buzzer in regulation, but recovered in overtime after Marcus Azor had tied the game with a few seconds left in the extra session. Azor finished with a triple-double for Mass-Dartmouth (16 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists). The Corsairs are highly likely to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

A packed house at Chadwick Court saw a battle and more as Wooster, the North Coast Athletic Conference heavyweight which had played in 23 of the previous 25 NCAC finals, went all the way to overtime before top seeded Wabash secured its place as the 2022 conference winner, defeating the Scots 85-84. By the time Wooster had banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the extra session, the win had already been secured, as the Little Giants hit all 10 of their free throws in the extra session. Brandon Styers' putback with 2:15 left gave Wooster a 78-77 lead with 2:15 to play, but Jack Davidson made two free throws, then Ahmoni Jones made two, and two more ... then two more. Jones finished with 16, while Davidson, the all-time leading scorer in Wabash history, finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Marymount built a 10-point lead 12 minutes into the game and took a 33-24 advantage into halftime in the Atlantic East title game. Trailing by 10, 42-32, the Knights scored the next eight points to pull within two. The Saints then scored the next five to extend their lead back to seven. A 3-pointer by Starr and a jumper by Tony James brought Neumann back to within two again, 49-47, with 8:47 on the clock. The teams traded baskets, but Neumann could not pull even until a jumper by TJ Lewis with 4:21 remaining. KJ Speller hit a layup with 2:46 on the clock to give Neumann its first lead of the game, 55-53. The teams then traded baskets and were knotted at 59 with 33 seconds left. A jumper by Jalen Vaughns with 3.8 seconds on the clock put the Knights up 61-59. On the inbound pass, Starr stole the ball, and the clock ran out, leaving Neumann the Atlantic East champs.

Christopher Newport is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season and 25th time in program history, as the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference came down to two teams in Virginia. CNU defeated Mary Washington 80-69 behind 22 points and 14 rebounds of Jahn Hines. Matt Brodie added 22 points off the bench.

Jake Rhode reached the 2,000-point mark in the conference semifinals on Friday night and he added 23 points in the biggest game of the season, the one in which Elmhurst defeated North Central 82-65. The win also kept North Central from stealing an at-large bid. Matt Helwig, who had a huge night in the semifinals, was held to 20 points on 6-for-17 shooting.

Levi Borchert produced his 14th double-double of the season as UW-Oshkosh withstood a late UW-Platteville comeback attempt and hung on for a thrilling 75-73 victory during a battle of highly ranked teams in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament final in front of a vocal crowd of 1,296 fans in Kolf Sports Center. UW-Oshkosh (22-3), ranked third in the NCAA Division III by D3hoops.com, took the lead for good at 17-15 on an Eric Peterson layup with 9:02 remaining in the first half and held a 58-48 cushion with 6:48 to go in the game before sixth-ranked UW-Platteville (21-5) pulled within 65-63 at the 3:15 mark and 74-73 with 18 seconds left.

Blackburn entered the SLIAC tournament at 8-17, but 7-7 in the conference, and the third seed. From there, the Beavers ran the table, rolling past fifth-seeded Webster to pick up the automatic bid by a 76-56 score. "The biggest thing was our movement," said coach Austin Kirby. "We started out 6-1 and finished 1-6 and a lot of that was stagnant movement. When we play inside out basketball we are a much better team." Blackburn enters the NCAA Tournament at 11-17.

Franklin entered the game with archrival Hanover with a sub-.500 record, in a gym that they hadn't won at since 2013. The Grizzlies were trying to claim their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2008. But none of that mattered as Franklin finished its run through the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference dance, knocking off all three top seeds en route to the conference title. Franklin beat Hanover 91-84. Led by a career-high 34 points from freshman and tournament MVP Cody Samples along with a dominant late-game stretch from senior Matt Krause, the Grizzlies completed their storybook run to earn its sixth league tournament championship.

The season with the most wins in Washington & Jefferson history will continue into the NCAA Tournament, as the Presidents improved to 24-4 in defeating Chatham and winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference title. Okikiola Agbale went 6-for-6 off the bench and 6-for-7 from the foul line, leading the Presidents with 18 points. 

After beating the No. 6 seed Hilbert, and then upsetting the No. 2 seed Penn State-Altoona, the third-seeded Redhawks were unable to muster another upset victory in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament and saw their season end in a 71-70 loss to Medaille. The win sends the Mavericks to the NCAA Tournament at 15-12. Kendall McGill led Medaille with 20 points, including a layup with 12 seconds left to give the Mavericks the lead for good.