Reggie Hearn and Steve Egan celebrate after UW-Whitewater scored last to win the 2014 national title. Photo by Ryan Tipps, D3sports.com  More photos from this game.

By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com

SALEM – Seemingly, it was the only way this particular weekend could have ended. A fantastic 2014 men’s Final Four got capped off with a championship game for the ages on Saturday night as UW-Whitewater scored the winning basket with 0.9 seconds left to defeat Williams 75-73.

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Quardell Young’s shot, after he sprinted up the floor following Mike Mayer’s tip-in with 4.8 seconds left, will go down as one of the great moments in the Salem era of Division III men’s basketball. Young’s left-handed layup will echo for years, exceeded perhaps only by Jason Kalsow’s basket with 0.2 seconds left in UW-Stevens Point’s 2004 title-game win.

The 3-pointer by Virginia Wesleyan’s Ton Ton Balenga with 2.1 seconds left in the Marlins’ 2006 championship win against Wittenberg belongs in the group of thrilling title-game moments. Williams secured its national title in 2003 when Tim Folan first hit a pair of free throws with two seconds left, then stole the inbounds pass to snuff out Gustavus Adolphus’ last hopes.

And that three-quarters court pass by the Gusties was reminiscent of what the Ephs would need to do to tie or win the game with 0.9 left. In fact, the ball came to the same part of the floor, freshman Duncan Robinson went up to get it and got off a shot that had people guessing.

“It looked fairly good from the air to be honest with you,” said UW-Whitewater coach Pat Miller. “It wasn’t like he shot it and I thought, ‘Oh good, we won.’ It was in the air a long time in my mind.”

A buzzer beater would have been about the only way this game would have been better. There have been at least two true buzzer beaters in the semifinals in Salem as well. Calvin guard Bryan Foltice took David Sadowski one-on-one full court and hit a floater to the left of the lane as time expired to lift the Knights to a 79-77 win and into the 2000 title game. Seth Hauben hit a jumper in the lane to send Rochester into overtime vs. Elizabethtown in the 2002 semifinals before Etown went on to win in the extra session.

This wasn't just about big shots, either. Although Whitewater couldn't shut down Mayer, they did a great job on the perimeter and left Mayer to go one-on-one against the Whitewater post players, Reggie Hearn and Steve Egan. When Hearn fouled out with 3:12 left, Egan, who had four fouls himself, was left to finish it out and he got a key offensive rebound that led to Eric Bryson's 3-pointer with 54 seconds left, then got a steal on an errant pass into the post 30 seconds later that was headed for Mayer.

Williams has been to Salem eight times, and perhaps none of those trips saw as much fan support and noise for the Ephs as this time around.

Williams fans came out in big numbers and made some noise. Although the noise from UW-Whitewater fans down the stretch was more prominent and the “You-Dub-Dub” chants familiar to football fans were prevalent, the Ephs represented.

Of course, although the game was fantastic and played in front of 2,681 fans in a building where that looks like a decent number, it pales in comparison to the student-athlete experience and the crowd of more than 6,000 that saw Amherst beat Mary Hardin-Baylor last year. There were dozens of Division III coaches in Salem for the weekend and some are still talking about playing the D-III title game at the Division I championship site should be put into the permanent schedule.

It still could be. With women’s basketball looking to give this a try in the 2016 season, we may get more momentum for combining the championships again. But we can’t lengthen out our NCAA Tournament so that the ending lines up with the Division I tournament.

Division III would have to start its season later. And if we start two weeks later, both men’s and women’s basketball would have to agree, because conference schedules need to be in alignment between men’s and women’s games. And changing the schedule on a long-term basis requires more discussion and approval.

As one coach mentioned to me after the game on Saturday, “this was great, but every championship team should get a chance to experience what those teams did last year.”

But regardless, the championship game was back in Salem, and Division III got the celebration of men’s basketball it deserved.