Friday: Half-court heave wins NJAC

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Thomas Bonacum has had quite a week, being named NJAC Player of the Year on Tuesday and hitting a title-winning buzzer beater on Friday.
File photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com
 

Ramapo beat New Jersey City 67-64 in stunning fashion to secure the NJAC title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. 

Leading 63-62 with 22 seconds left, New Jersey City committed a flagrant foul sending Ramapo's Nick Stanek to the free throw line. He made both free throws to take the lead, but Ramapo couldn't inbound the ball in time, and turned it over. New Jersey City ran the clock down and gave the ball to Chinwe Wosu who got fouled and made one of two free throws to tie the game. The Roadrunners inbounded the ball successfully and pitched it to Thomas Bonacum who hit a half-court shot to win the game. Recap

The loss sends New Jersey City (21-7) into the pool of teams hoping for an at-large bid. The Gothic Knights were seeded third behind Ramapo and Neumann, which plays in the CSAC title game tomorrow, entering the week.

Staten Island also punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament by beating CCNY 77-66 in the CUNYAC men's tournament final. Khaleeq Baum scored 21 points to lead the Dolphins past the Beavers and Frank Schettino picked up six assists and moved into a tie for sixth place all-time in career assists with Jerald Williams of Lycoming.

After stumbling into the postseason with three straight losses, No. 24 Augustana righted itself and knocked out North Park in the CCIW semifinals, 86-70. Augustana shot 57 percent (16-for-30) in the first half and somehow shot better in the second, going 19-for-31 (61 percent) after the break. Senior guard Juwan Henry led North Park with 24 points in 37 minutes.

Augustana will meet four-seed North Central (Ill.) for the title after the Cardinals beat host Carthage 87-85 on a runner at the buzzer by Aiden Chang. Jagger Anderson's two free throws gave North Central the lead 85-81 with 25 seconds left. Carthage got two points from the foul line on its next possession and then, after North Central missed two free throws, got two more from Kevin Kozil to tie the game at 85 with four seconds remaining. Carthage called timeout to set up its defense and Aiden Chang drove to the basket for the game-winner.

All-American Ty Sabin picked up his second 50-point game of the season and Ripon edged Cornell 80-79 to advance to the MWC title game. Sabin shot 19-for-29, including 8-for-12 from three (Photo gallery). The next highest scorer for the Red Hawks had nine points. Ripon will meet Lake Forest in the championship game since the Foresters upset St. Norbert 73-70 (Photo gallery). Eric Porter scored 23 points with 18 coming from behind the arc for Lake Forest. Despite their national ranking, St. Norbert is unlikely to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, with the Green Knights sitting outside the NCAA's Central region rankings this week.

Brian Sortino, who was also an All-American last year, had a similarly big night for Oswego State and the Lakers edged Buffalo State 84-83 in overtime. Sortino rolled up 48 points in 45 minutes, including a 17-for-19 performance from teh foul line. Oswego State will host SUNY Oneonta in the final tomorrow. The Red Dragons ousted Brockport 85-72 in the other SUNYAC semifinal.

Wooster pulled away from No. 14 Denison 87-77 in the NCAC semifinals as Dan Fanelly poured in 32 points in 37 minutes for the Scots. The Big Red sit pretty far down in the Great Lakes region rankings, slotted seventh entering the week.

The top two seeds will meet for the Little East title tomorrow afternoon. Eastern Connecticut, which is hosting the final four teams, took care of Mass-Boston 86-58 and Keene State surged past Mass-Dartmouth, 85-68, behind 25 points from Ty Nichols and 21 points from Jeff Lunn.

Scroll down for the women's recap

Christina Pasaturo was named CUNYAC tournament MVP for helping Staten Island return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 12 years.
Photo by Staten Island athletics 
 

Staten Island became the first women's team to punch its ticket to the 2017 NCAA tournament with a 53-42 win over top-seed Brooklyn in the CUNYAC title game. Four of Staten Island's starters hit multiple threes in the game and Christina Pasaturo paced the Dolphins with 16 points. The Dolphins will make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005.

Calvin avenged its two regular season losses to arch rival Hope with a 67-65 win over the Flying Dutch in the MIAA semifinal. Anna Timmer (19 points, 11 rebounds) and Bre Luurtsema (10 points, 11 rebounds) tallied double-doubles for the Knights. Francesca Buchanan scored 23 points for Hope, which should be in solid position to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The win was the 300th of Chuck Winkelman's career, including his time at Hendrix and Millsaps.

UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater played two nailbiters in the regular season and they'll get a rematch in the WIAC tournament final on Sunday. The Titans ended UW-River Falls' Cinderella run by holding the Falcons to 29 percent shooting (16-for-55) in a 56-48 victory. Brooke Trewyn tallied 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists in Whitewater's 69-54 win over UW-La Crosse.

Gettysburg eliminated the Centennial Conference's top seed Haverford by beating the Fords 59-55 on their own floor. Emma Dorshimer paced the Bullets with 19 points. Gettysburg will face preseason favorite Muhlenberg, which beat Dickinson 56-51, in tomorrow's final.

In other semifinal games Louisiana College continued its surprising charge through the ASC tournament. The Wildcats topped Texas-Tyler 85-78 to set up a championship matchup with Texas-Dallas. The Comets defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor 69-57 in the other semifinal

Jordan Holmes kept her record-setting career going as Division III basketball's all-time leader in blocks and rebounds helpd Denison beat Kenyon, 51-42. Holmes had 16 rebounds and six blocks, along with 17 points.