Saturday men: Bubbles a-poppin'

More news about: Babson | Guilford | Schreiner | Wabash
Feb 25, 2023
Jorden Davis' teammates follow him down the floor in celebration after his 3-pointer at the buzzer left Hampden-Sydney stunned in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference semifinals.
Guilford athletics photo
 

Babson played its way into the NCAA Tournament past NEWMAC top seed WPI, St. Thomas (Texas) got bounced in the SCAC semifinals, Guilford won at the buzzer, Wabash returned the favor to conference rival Wooster, and NESCAC top seed Williams lost, meaning the NESCAC will probably steal an extra bid from someone as well when all is said and done. 

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St. Thomas, the No. 12 team in the D3hoops.com men's basketball Top 25, hadn't lost a game to an SCAC opponent all year, and Schreiner had to win its last regular season game to even get into the SCAC tournament, then knocked off No. 4 seed Colorado College on Friday just to get to Saturday. And on Saturday, the Mountaineers took it to the Celts, shooting 64% from the floor in the second half, including 6-for-10 from 3-point range, in winning 65-64. With 3:09 to play, Schreiner's Kamden Ross fouled out, and Andrew Adebo sank both foul shots to give the Celts (23-3) their first lead of the game. But it turned out to be their only lead, as Alex Dehoyos put his team back up by one with 1:47 left, and Dylan Mackey added a layup with 0:58 to play to make it 65-62. UST missed two 3-point attempts in the final minute, including a shot that would have sent it to overtime off the hands of Ricky Altamirano. Joshua Sanchez hit the putback at the buzzer, but two points was not enough as St. Thomas fell 65-64. 

The Celts should be secure in receiving one of the NCAA Tournament's 20 at-large bids, but nobody else in the SCAC was regionally ranked, so the SCAC tournament champion will be stealing a bid from someone. Schreiner will face host Trinity (Texas) on Sunday in the conference tournament final.

WPI went squarely onto the bubble, as Babson opened up a 10-point halftime lead and went on to win on the Engineers' home floor, 59-53. The Beavers (19-8) got 17 points from Nate Amado, who went 5-for-9 from 3-point range in the win. Andrew Lufkin headed to the line for three WPI free throw attempts and completed a rare five-point possession, draining the first two free throws, coming up big with an offensive board and dishing it out to Sevilla who drained a three and made it a two-point game, with Babson still slightly ahead 53-51. Babson hit its free throws down the stretch to secure the win and the NEWMAC's automatic bid.

Wabash may well have burst someone's bubble as well, as the Little Giants returned to the scene of last Saturday's classic and delivered another classic, this one a one-point win at Wooster, 81-80, to secure the North Coast Athletic Conference championship and automatic bid. Wabash's Ahmoni Jones, who earned the Al Van Wie Award as the tournament's most outstanding player, hit the game-winner on a turnaround jumper from the foul line while heavily contested with 10.2 seconds remaining. Jamir Billings, who broke Wooster's single-game program record with 10 3-pointers, was forced into an off-balance desperation shot from about 30 feet away in the final seconds. Saturday's battle saw the lead change hands four times in the final 106 seconds, starting with Billings' milestone 3-pointer. The Scots' point guard, who scored a career-high 30 points – all on threes – made it a 78-76 game with 1:46 to go. Edreece Redmond's old-fashioned three-point play at the 1:14 mark handed the lead back to Wabash at 79-78, and that is where things stood until Elijah Meredith was fouled after securing a lengthy down-the-court pass in transition. Meredith's pair at the stripe gave Wooster an 80-79 lead with about 20 seconds left.

Elijah Bowens scored 17 points, all in the second half, and Jorden Davis banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer as Guilford came all the way back from a 16-point deficit in the final four and a half minutes and defeated Hampden-Sydney 70-69. The Quakers finished the game on a 27-10 run, helped by the Tigers missing four of their last five free throws. That included two misses with six seconds left, the last of which was rebounded in traffic by Luke Proctor. He pushed the ball up the floor and found Davis with a cross-court pass. His 3-pointer set off the celebration.

Keene State preserved an at-large bid for someone, as the Owls held off Western Connecticut for a third time this season, for a second time in overtime, winning 83-79. Down seven points at halftime, Keene State stormed back for the win in the Little East tournament final in front of a capacity crowd at Spaulding Gym. Keene also beat Western Conn in overtime at home back on Jan. 7. Keene improved to 26-1, while Western fell to 22-5 and out of the playoff picture.

Christian Parker, the Ohio Athletic Conference's most outstanding player, turned out to be the most outstanding in the OAC tournament as well, as Parker poured in 31 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in Mount Union's 95-80 win against Marietta in the OAC final. The Purple Raiders (25-2 overall) roared out to a 23-3 lead in the opening minutes of the game, hitting their first six shots of the game, including 3-pointers from Darrell Newsome, Parker and Jeffrey Mansfield. Marietta had advanced by knocking off top seed John Carroll on Thursday.

St. John Fisher clinched its return to the Division III men's basketball NCAA Tournament as the Cardinals finished the game on an 11-1 run to defeat Nazareth 78-62. Nazareth had scored to cut the lead to 67-61 and had three good looks to cut the deficit even further, but came up empty. Daniel Cook scored a team-high 17 points and was named the Empire 8 tournament MVP.

Illinois College booked its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and did so in dominant fashion, leading Cornell College by as many as 20 points in the second half and by double figures up until the closing minute of a 70-61 win. Jake Marzimas hit a 3-pointer early in the first half which staked the Blueboys to a 14-4 lead, and another of his long-range shots put IC up by 20 in the second half. Marzimas scored 24, including 4-for-5 shooting from behond the arc.

Christopher Newport needed to go coast to coast to pick up an automatic bid and did so, as the Captains from Newport News, Virginia, went all the way out to Santa Cruz, California, to defeat Mary Washington, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. And it was Trey Barber who went 13-for-16 from the floor en route to a career-high 29 points as CNU beat Mary Wash 65-52 to win the C2C automatic bid. Jahn Hines was limited to six points and 19 minutes by foul trouble, after scoring 31 in the semifinals against Santa Cruz.

Oswego State booked a return trip to the tournament, winning its 21st consecutive game in easing past Brockport 74-63. It's the second time that the Lakers have avenged their last loss, which came to Brockport back on Dec. 2. Ahkee Anderson put up a game-high 22 points, shooting 10-for-16 from the floor, while Cartier Bowman added 15 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. 

Tied at 53 with 9:12 to go in the game, East Texas Baptist went on a 12-2 run and never looked back as the Tigers won the 2023 American Southwest Conference tournament championship over Hardin-Simmons 72-64. The 12-2 run by ETBU over two minutes game them a 10-point lead, 65-55, on a Darry Moore dunk. HSU did cut the lead down to four, 66-62, with 1:53 to go but the lead was back to 10, 72-62, with 26 seconds left on an Aaron Gregg free throw on a 6-0 run. HSU made one more shot to make it an eight-point game as ETBU recorded its second ASC tournament championship in program history.

Tommy Griffitts' putback with 2.4 seconds left lifted Cal Lutheran to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament championship, and NCAA Tournament berth, as they defeated Redlands 69-68 on Saturday night. The No. 3 seeded Bulldogs had taken a one-point lead with 16 seconds left in the game. With just under five seconds, Lewis made his move and drove to the hoop. Griffitts followed and was in the perfect place after a missed layup, and his putback was the deciding factor, as the fourth seed will go dancing at 13-13.

Hope won for a third time in three nights and the Flying Dutchmen swept their way through the MIAA tournament, defeating archrival Calvin 61-54. Marcus Wourman scored a team-high 18 points off the bench and Evan Thomas added 14 to lift Hope in front of an announced crowd of 2,105 at Calvin's Van Noord Arena. Rose-Hulman cut a 15-point deficit down to six with 5:23 left in the game. Bradley Harden buried a 3-pointer, Miles McGowen hit a free throw and Willie Bowman capped the spurt with a 3-pointer in the right corner. But Anderson scored the next nine points to put the game away and secure its first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2010, defeating Rose-Hulman 73-55. Camden Smith led the Ravens with 19 points.

North Park clinched a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990, as the Vikings defeated Elmhurst 83-75 in the CCIW tournament final. Jalen Boyd scored a game-high 23 points. Elmhurst went cold from long range in the second half, connecting on just one of 11 from beyond the arc. Marymount earned its first conference title in 23 years, defeating Neumann 57-52. Montell Cooper scored 13 and had seven rebounds for the Saints in a rematch of last year's Atlantic East Conference tournament final. TJ Schnurr could not be stopped, as the Coe forward shot 14-for-15 from the floor and 3-for-3 from beyond the arc on his way to 36 points in a 93-86 win at Loras. The Kohawks, 16-12 on the season, were the No. 6 seed in the American Rivers Conference.

In the NESCAC, Colby and Hamilton each rolled to semifinal wins on Saturday to advance to Sunday's conference championship game. Colby was ranked seventh in the last Region 1 poll and Hamilton was ranked fifth, so regardless of who wins, the NESCAC automatic bid probably pops someone's bubble. For Colby, it was the Mules' eighth win in nine games, fueled by 17 points from Will King. The Mules (20-6) limited Williams to 4-for-19 shooting from 3-point range in the 66-51 victory. Hamilton, the tournament's No. 2 seed, improved to 18-8 overall, outrebounding Tufts 21-11 in the first half and 47-34 for the game. Hank Morgan finished with a game-high 19 points as no Tufts players scored in double digits in the 71-48 defeat.