Fred Garland was one of four Trine players in double figures on an electric night in Angola, Indiana. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

The Elite Eight will feature Trine and Calvin, Hampden-Sydney and Guilford, plus defending champion Christopher Newport, UW-Platteville, Nebraska Wesleyan and Trinity (Conn.), the last NESCAC team standing, as seven of the eight games were decided by double-digits.

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Caelan Jones had 34 points on 9-16 shooting from three-point territory, and Josh Angle had 19 points in his final collegiate contest, but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was unable to come all the way back from a 14-point deficit with two minutes left, as it fell 74-70 to Nebraska Wesleyan. The Prairie Wolves extended their lead to 70-56 with 2:15 left before the Stags gave it one final push, cutting it to a one-possession game with 18 seconds to go. Jones hit two straight three-pointers, around a missed front end of a one-and-one from Nebraska Wesleyan, to cut the deficit to 70-62. The Prairie Wolves again missed the front end, and the Stags (22-7) hit the offensive boards three times before Angle converted a layup and drew a foul to make it 70-65 with 50 seconds to play. After Nebraska Wesleyan (26-4) split two at the line, Will Householter buried a corner three to suddenly make it 71-68 with 20 seconds left, scoring 12 points on four possessions to give themselves a chance in the closing seconds.

Twice the ball went out of bounds as CMS trapped in the backcourt and the Stags were momentarily hopeful for a big turnover and a chance to tie, but the first one went back to Nebraska Wesleyan, and the second was called a reach-in foul. Jones answered those two Prairie Wolves foul shots with a layup with nine seconds left to make it 73-70, but Nebraska Wesleyan's Carter Glenn split two at the line to make it a two-possession game, and the Stags were unable to cut into that four-point lead in the final seconds.

Hampden-Sydney will face Nebraska Wesleyan, as the Tigers ended Rowan's season in the Sweet 16 by a 91-76 score. It's the second consecutive year the Profs have bowed out in the sectional semifinals. Josiah Hardy scored a team-high 20 for H-SC, Ryan Clements scored 18 on 10-for-11 foul shooting, and Shane Fernald had 15 big points in 17 minutes off the bench in the win in front of a packed house at Fleet Gymnasium.

Calvin sophomore Jalen Overway poured in 29 points including 18 in the first half to lead the Knights to a 72-59 win against Randolph-Macon at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Calvin led 37-25 at halftime before the Yellow Jackets made a second half surge to close to within four at 50-46. Calvin answered with eight unanswered points to lead 58-46 and kept RMC at bay the rest of the way. It's Calvin's first trip to the Elite Eight since 2005.

The Yellow Jackets got within seven at 62-55 but a transition layup by Overway and a baseline dunk by sophomore Owen Varnado gave Calvin (25-4) a 66-55 lead with 2:59 left. Overway's 29 points came on 12-of-20 shooting to go with 12 rebounds as he notched his 16th double-double of the season including the 29th of his career. Uchenna Egekeze had another outstanding night, scoring 15 points including nine in the first half while grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing out six assists. Randolph-Macon (25-5) shot 40.3 percent from the field (25 of 62) but just 16.7 percent (3-for-18) from three-point range.

Calvin will face the host school, as Henry Vetter scored 28 points in 30 minutes of play and Trinity (Conn.) eased past Tufts 70-53 and into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015. It's the third win for the Bantams against the Jumbos on the season. Trinity held Tufts to just 6-of-28 shooting from three-point range, shutting down Khai Champion to the tune of 10 points on 4-for-17 shooting, 2-for-11 from beyond the arc. The Jumbos opened the second half on a 7-2 run to grab a 28-27 lead. The sides exchanged the lead four times over the next seven minutes as a three-pointer from freshman Liam Kennelly gave Tufts a 39-37 lead with 11:43 on the clock. Vetter erupted for 10 straight points to hand the Bantams a lead they wouldn't surrender, 49-41, with 6:35 remaining in the half. A three-pointer from Will Dorion put Trinity ahead double digits, 54-44. Vetter scored eight of the next 10 points for the Bantams as the lead expanded to 64-49 with less than two minutes to play. Vetter and Dorion knocked down six free throws down the stretch to lock up the 70-53 win for Trinity.

UW-Platteville hit a three at the halftime buzzer and hit nine of its first 14 in the second half as well, as the Pioneers rolled to a 95-75 win against Case Western Reserve. Sam Trunley hit a 3 for Case to tie the game with a minute to play in the first half, but Platteville (26-4) scored the last five, including a deep three by Aiden Wieczorek that definitely beat the buzzer. The Pioneers ripped off a 17-4 run early in the second half to get some breathing room and Case (23-5) was down by double digits for all but one possession the rest of the way.

"I think playing on neutral court -- as a one seed, you expect to play at home," Case coach Todd McGuinness said after the game. "And we're on a neutral court. So that's interesting when we saw that bracket come out, but you know, they're good. You know, they made shots. We didn't. Pretty much was going to come down to that."

Meanwhile, Ben Probst was having an amazing game, especially in the second half, where the Platteville guard hit six of his eight three-point attempts. Probst finished with a season-high 27, while Logan Pearson finished with 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Colin Kahl led the Spartans with 16 points, while Anthony Mazzeo was limited to 15 points on 4-for-11 shooting.

UW-Platteville will play the hosts as Trine led for nearly 38 minutes in an 86-65 win against Washington U. The Thunder (26-4) rained it down from long range, hitting on 10 of 15 three-point attempts, including 4-for-5 shooting from Aidan Smylie and a 3-for-3 night from Cortez Garland. They scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, in the win, which came in front of a home crowd of 2,230.

"Good players make plays," Garland said after the game. "Today was just one of those days where we had to make plays and it ended up being from three."

Trine is one win away from making the 45-minute trip down I-69 to play in the NCAA Division III men's basketball Final Four at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.

Christopher Newport's stingy defense held Williams to 49 points and 28 percent shooting Friday, as the Captains ousted the Ephs from the Division III NCAA Tournament. The defending national champions posted a 60-49 victory at Ragan-Brown Field House on the campus of Guilford College to advance to the Elite 8 for the sixth time in program history. The Captains, now 24-6, will play Saturday night at 7:15 against Guilford, with the winner advancing to the Final Four next weekend in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Captains out-scored the Ephs in the paint, 26-8, despite Williams' noticeable size advantage. CNU also forced 16 turnovers by the Ephs, a team that averaged just 11 per game this season, and Christopher Newport also recorded 11 steals, led by freshman Isaiah Dozier with four takeaways.

"Defensively I thought we were just awesome," head coach John Krikorian said following his team's fifth straight victory. "Ian Anderson and Ethan Ward played so tough inside, and as the game moved on, I think we figured out some ways to get the ball inside, and that's where we were able to get so many of our points. Driving to the basket allowed us to manufacture shots, and when they didn't go in, many times we were able to get to the line." All-American Jahn Hines led the way in the scoring column for CNU with 14 points, while Anderson scored 13 and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, all in the second half. 

Tyler Dearman had himself a night as Guilford eliminated Keene State by an 82-60 score. Dearman outscored Keene's dynamic duo, as he put up 27 points and had four steals, while Jeff Hunter and Octavio Brito were limited to just 12 apiece for the Owls (26-4). Guilford led 40-34 at half and pulled away coming out out of the locker room. The Owls stayed within two possessions through the first three minutes, as they trailed by four, but then a layup by Julius Burch, threes by Caleb Farrish and Dearman, then a pair at the charity stripe by Dearman ballooned the lead to double-digits in a hurry and the Quakers would never turn back. Brito, Dearman, Hunter, and Burch swapped layups before an Edwards make from distance ended the pattern and KSC would only get within 14 points once the rest of the way.