MBB: Championship Saturday drama

Mar 01, 2025
The Eagles of Mary Washington were 8-12 three weeks ago before putting together enough of a run to get to the NCAA Tournament.
Mary Washington athletics file photo
 

Western New England and Grinnell qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, while Mary Washington and Clark ended up as a bid thief and top-ranked Wesleyan remained unbeaten, but needed overtime to do it on Saturday. 

Clark stole a bid on Saturday as the Cougars' Quentin Pridgen went 6-for-7 from three-point range on his way to 23 points and Bruce Saintilus added 14 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in an 80-65 dominant win in the NEWMAC men's basketball title game against WPI. The win puts Clark in the tournament and leaves WPI (24-3) in the at-large pool, making the NEWMAC a two-bid league. Clark (18-9) would not have qualified without the upset win in the conference tournament. The win also snapped WPI's 16-game winning streak.

Mary Washington came from even further down the list to steal a bid on Saturday evening as the Eagles finished their two-game run through the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference tournament and came out with the C2C title, knocking off top-seeded Christopher Newport 71-66. Mary Washington is just 13-14 overall, and got to the tournament on the strength of a great weekend from Jay Randall, who scored 26 points on Saturday. CNU shot just 2-for-20 from three-point range. The Captains (22-5) are in the tournament comfortably.

Western New England survived a last second shot from Suffolk and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001 as the Golden Bears defeated Suffolk 75-74. In front of an overflow crowd at the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center, and a crowd that overflowed as much as the name of the gymnasium does, Suffolk had a shot that went in, but was correctly ruled to have been released after the buzzer, and ruled correctly without the benefit of replay. The Golden Bears (21-6) overcame 36 points from Keenan Robertson, including two free throws which gave Suffolk the lead with 34 seconds left. But WNEU's Cody Palazzesi answered with two made foul shots of his own a few seconds later, and Nick Verdile missed a three badly that would have given the Rams the lead. Sufflok did rebound a missed foul shot with a few seconds left, but did not have quite enough time to get th eball down the floor and get the shot off.

Antonio Redding hit the go-ahead jumper with five seconds left and Stevens had a shot roll around and off at the buzzer, as Delaware Valley won the MAC Freedom conference tournament and automatic bid, 64-63. The Aggies return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. Delaware Valley, which went 8-17 and 2-12 in the conference last year, was picked last in the conference preseason poll. Redding finished with 29 points.

Northwestern scored on 19 of its first 25 possessions and the Eagles flew out to a 39-18 lead, but Bethany Lutheran overcame that 21-point deficit and went on to defeat Northwestern 90-84 in overtime to claim their third straight UMAC Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth. With the win the Vikings improve to 14-13 on the season while the Eagles end their campaign at 15-12. Drew Sagedahl led Bethany Lutheran and earned UMAC Tournament MVP honors with 29 points in the contest while Madson added 20. Fellow seniors DJ Akpati and Dominik Bangu also reached double digits with 19 and 13, respectively. Bangu also notched a double-double as he tallied a game-high 11 rebounds.

Grinnell shot just 6-for-25 from three-point range in the Midwest Conference final, and this is how so many blurbs over the past 24 years have started when they talk about Grinnell losing in the conference tournament. But in this instance, the Pioneers come away with the win and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, defeating Lake Forest 95-82. Grinnell looked fairly un-System-like through the first 20 minutes, when less than one-third of its 52 field goal attempts were from three-point range, but it was even less so the rest of the way, as just eight of their final 23 shots were from beyond the arc. But they dominated in rebounding and had balanced scoring and held Lake Forest under 50% from the floor in the win. Gabe Garcia led the Pioneers (20-7) with 14 points, while Harris Dar and Nick Courtney added 13 apiece.

The Pioneers won't be the only System team in the NCAA Tournament, as Greenville qualified for the postseason as well, defeating Webster 115-104 to win the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament. Kiarie Patrick scored a game-high 31 points to lead the Panthers, who improved to 20-7. George Barber's team last went to the tournament in 2018, where they lost at Augustana 123-111 in the first round. Greenville was 5-21 just three seasons ago.

No. 15 Calvin topped archrival Hope 62-59 on Saturday night at Van Noord Arena to win the MIAA men's basketball tournament and secure its bid into the Division III NCAA Tournament. Marcus Wourman led Hope with 17 first-half points as the Flying Dutchmen (16-12) took a 41-32 lead into the halftime locker room. They remained in control early in the second half and pushed their lead back up to 12 at 48-36, but Calvin (21-6) responded with a 15-2 run to wrestle the lead away. Owen Varnado scored eight of the Knights' 15 points during the big run and Trevin Winkle chipped in four points late in the run to cut further into the deficit. With the game tied late, Winkle had the answer once again for Calvin with a driving layup with a minute to play to put the Knights back in front by two. After a defensive stop in the next possession and a Swartz free throw, Calvin got one final stop on a missed three-pointer as the final buzzer sounded to seal the win. Calvin also pushed its winning streak to 20 straight with the win.

Malcolm Newman scored a game-high 18 points and No. 25 Drew rode an incredible start to an 85-70 victory over Catholic in the Landmark Conference final on Saturday in a packed Baldwin Gym. The Rangers torched the nets for 69.2% shooting, including 58.8% (10-for-17) from 3-point range, in the first half while racing out to a 50-29 lead. Newman, who was named tournament MVP, scored 14 of his points on 6-of-9 shooting in the opening period. This is Drew's first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Maurice Pinnock gave UMHB a 39-38 lead with 17:48 to play and the Cowboys responded with a crucial 9-0 run that gave the Cowboys the lead for good as Hardin-Simmons defeated UMHB 73-62 to win the American Southwest Conference title. In the run, Chris Bryant had a layup, Silas Davis drilled a 3-pointer, Trevion Howell had a layup and Asher Fleming finished the run with an emphatic dunk. The Cowboys added another 10-0 run a few minutes later, with eight of those points coming from D.J. Jones, pushing the lead out 67-50 with 8:16 to play. HSU was able to close out the game down the stretch and improve to 17-9.

John Carroll ensured that in the sport of men's basketball, it would leave the Ohio Athletic Conference and take the hardware with it, as the Blue Streaks defeated Mount Union 82-69 in the OAC tournament final. JCU (22-5) leaves after this academic year in order to join the North Coast Athletic Conference. Christian Parker fouled out for Mount Union with 3:45 to play and JCU leading 67-60, then Will Yontek took a feed from Chase Toppin and threw it down to go up by 12 at the two-minute mark. JCU cruised to the win from there. 

Franklin led last after nine lead changes in the second half and hit seven of its eight free throws down the stretch to hold off Anderson and win the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title, 72-66. Franklin opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the afternoon at 40-39. That set the stage for a back-and-forth second half that saw nine total lead changes and neither side leading by more than four points until late. With 3:55 to go in the game, a fast break layup from Cody Samples put Franklin in front 58-57 and give the Grizzlies a lead they would hold the rest of the way.

The conference tournament in the NESCAC was being contested among four remaining teams, each of whom will make the NCAA Tournament, and Saturday's first semifinal had all the makings of a great Sweet 16 meeting, with Wesleyan outlasting Hamilton 82-77 in double overtime. It wasn't until the second extra session that Wesleyan finally began to take control, an improve to 26-0. The Cardinals will face Trinity (Conn.), which once again was able to ease past Tufts, 74-51.

Along with the NESCAC, seven other automatic bids remain to be handed out, and all will be done on Sunday, in seven hours of basketball between noon and 7 p.m. ET.