Thursday men: All smiles for Pointers

More news about: Baldwin Wallace | UW-Stevens Point | WPI
Feb 22, 2019
A whole bunch of UW-Stevens Point players celebrate late in the game during the Pointers' semifinal win at WIAC top seed UW-Oshkosh. (Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com)
A whole bunch of UW-Stevens Point players celebrate late in the game during the Pointers' semifinal win at WIAC top seed UW-Oshkosh.
 Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com
 

There are 20 at-large bids to the 2019 Division III men's basketball tournament, and two of them, for certain, were removed from circulation on Thursday night as MIT and Capital each got upset in conference tournaments. In addition, UW-Oshkosh, the No. 3 team in the country, got routed, meaning the WIAC, which might not have gotten two teams into the NCAA Tournament Field of 64, will definitely do so now.

In essence, at least two teams' bubbles burst tonight, and perhaps a third.

Canon O'Heron had a game-high 20 points to lead UW-Stevens Point to a 76-56 win over UW-Oshkosh in the WIAC semifinals. UW-Stevens Point (18-8), seeded fourth at the six-team league tournament, never trailed after scoring the first 10 points of the game and maintained a double-digit lead for the final 16:24 of the game. O'Heron shot 8-of-14 from the field as the Pointers outshot the Titans, 52.6 to 35.7 percent, from the floor on the night as UW-Stevens Point snapped UW-Oshkosh's 16-game home winning streak. Ethan Bublitz added 14 points and six rebounds for the Pointers. Ben Boots paced the Titans (23-3) with 19 points. The Poitners will play at No. 3 seed UW-Platteville for the WIAC automatic bid on Saturday. Robert Duax was just 3-for-15 from the field but hit three 3-pointers and was 7-for-8 from the foul line to help Platteville get past No. 2 seed UW-La Crosse 61-51. Duax scored 16 and Quentin Shields added 15 for the Pioneers, who improved to 17-10. UW-La Crosse (17-9) was outrebounded 44-28 in defeat.

Matt Carik's 3-point basket with 20 seconds left snapped a tie and visiting Augsburg survived two missed treys to tie in the final seconds to knock off top-seed St. Thomas 84-81 in a thrilling MIAC semifinal in St. Paul. The Auggies (19-8) had a 20-point lead evaporate over a late 11:35 span, but made clutch shots on two of their last three possessions down the stretch to hold on to win. Booker Coplin had a game-high 32 for Augsburg to help send St. Thomas to 22-4. Augsburg plays for the MIAC automatic bid on Saturday at second-seeded St. John's. The Johnnies advanced with an 82-49 win, with all five starters scoring between 12 and 14 points.

Colin McNamara drained an off-balance 14-foot jumper as time expired to lift fifth-seeded WPI to a pulsating 55-53 victory over top-seed and seventh-ranked MIT. With the victory, WPI (19-8) advances to its second straight NEWMAC tournament championship game. Worcester's Engineers will travel to second-seeded Emerson, an 80-68 winner over third-seeded Springfield in the other semifinal tilt. McNamara finished with game-highs of 13 points and four assists for WPI, while A.J. Jurko led MIT with 13 points and six assists.

Whitworth will get one more shot at Whitman as the two teams advanced to the Northwest Conference tournament championship. Kyle Roach scored a game-high 27 points as Whitworth got past Linfield, 88-69, while Whitman rolled past Puget Sound 128-81.

Top seeds Randolph-Macon and Mary Hardin-Baylor advanced as the ODAC and ASC quarterfinals dominated the day in Salem, Virginia and Richardson, Texas. The ODAC saw all three of its higher-ranked teams in the South Region poll advance as Randolph-Macon rolled over Randolph College, 79-42, while Washington & Lee defeated Virginia Wesleyan and Guilford downed Emory & Henry. Roanoke defeated Lynchburg to pick up the fourth semifinalist spot.

Mary Hardin-Baylor, the highest-ranked ASC team in the Division III South Region rankings, got 26 points from Lakendric Hyson and 21 from Demarius Cress in defeating East Texas Baptist 90-73. The Crusaders improved to 21-5 and will face Hardin-Simmons, which knocked off LeTourneau 110-101. Higher seeds Concordia (Texas) and Texas-Dallas advanced to the other semifinal. 

Matt Finke canned a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Mitchell, the fourth seed in the NECC tournament, past top seed New England College 87-85 in overtime. After Finke made a pair of clutch free throws to put the Mariners up one with 11 seconds remaining, NEC's Calvin Cheek went coast to coast for a go-ahead lay up to the delight of the home crowd. However, with 2.5 seconds remaining on the clock, Malik Chase had enough time to make an inbounds pass to Finke at midcourt. Finke caught the pass, turned and took one dribble before launching a shot from deep on the left wing. The buzzer sounded after his release, and the shot banked in for the game-winning points, sending the Mariners into wild celebration. They will host sixth-seeded Newbury in the title game as the Nighthawks held on to top second-seeded Eastern Nazarene by a 74-73 final.