| Mike Coleman had a huge night
to give DeSales a neutral site game tomorrow. DeSales athletics photo by Pat Jacoby Photography |
|
| Marian
collapses in disbelief after its first trip to the tournament since
2001 nearly ended in an upset of the top-ranked team in the
country. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
For a five minute stretch it looked like a team from the SLIAC and could get its first win in the NCAA Tournament in stunning fashion, and a team from the NACC could get the conference's second win. But Illinois Wesleyan rallied past Webster in the closing seconds and UW-Stevens Point held off Marian to cap a thrilling first round of the 2014 Division III men’s basketball tournament.
SLIAC representative Webster led Illinois Wesleyan 70-69 in the final minute after Ahmad Smith hit two free throws to give the Gorloks the lead. But Dylan Overstreet was fouled with nine seconds left and made both free throws to put the Titans back in front. Webster turned the ball over on its last possession and Illiois Wesleyan advanced, 71-70.
UW-Stevens Point and Marian battled to a 59-59 tie with 3:40 to play in Wisconsin. The Pointers scored six straight points to gain a little breathing room, but the Sabres rallied within one in the final minute. Marian had a layup attempt to take the lead with ten seconds left, but missed it. Tyler Tillema hit one of two free throws and the Pointers survived, 66-64. Tillema finished with 12 while Trevor Hass had 25.
Mike Coleman scored eight of his game-high 29 points in overtime as DeSales sent another first-round host packing, defeating Randolph-Macon 76-70 in overtime. Kyle Hash added 26 off the bench for the victors, who held the Yellow Jackets starters to 10-for-43 from the floor. It's the Freedom Conference's first win in the past four tournaments, since DeSales advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2010, losing to Randolph-Macon.
Hope ends its season on a two-game losing streak, turning the ball over 24 times and watching Penn State-Behrend advance into the second round with a 70-66 overtime on the Flying Dutchmen's home floor. Nick DeLisio led the Lions with 19 points and three blocked shots.
"I thought they were tough," Hope coach Matt Neil said of the Lions (24-4), "and we didn't respond. That's unfortunate because we talked all week long about how to handle (Behrend's defensive pressure). Over the course of the last six games, we didn't play together and we have to learn from that. The floor is a classroom."
|
|
Despite playing without its top player, Brockport State led Morrisville State by 20 at home. But the Mustangs rallied to tie the game and then outlasted the Golden Eagles 83-80 in triple overtime. Jailaan Kinsey led Morrisville State with 20 points in 50 minutes.
The NEWMAC got four teams into the NCAA Tournament, but not one of them advances out of the first round as all four met defeat on Friday night. No. 13 ranked Albertus Magnus used a late 11-2 run to rally to defeat No. 14 WPI 68-66 at SUNY-Purchase. WPI hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin. Plattsburgh State won a first-round game for the second time in three years, defeating MIT 76-53. MIT was the NEWMAC's upset tournament winner. Ezra Hodgson scored a game-high 27 points, shooting 6-for-9 from 3-point range in the win.
The conference also gave the Commonwealth Coast Conference its first NCAA Tournament win since getting an automatic bid in 2000, as Gordon's Alex Carnes exploded for a game-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and the Fighting Scots bench combined for 35 points on its way to a 76-68 victory over Babson. And Bradley Riester scored a game-high 22 points to lead No. 17 Mary Washington to its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, a 78-58 win over Springfield.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the New Jersey Athletic Conference snapped a nine-game NCAA losing streak as Richard Stockton defeated Bowdoin 72-66. Rich Suhr lit it up for 21 points and Josh Blamon added 20 in the vcitory. Bowdoin scored only 24 points from inside the arc in the loss and was just 0-for-3 from the foul line.
St. Olaf's first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament ended in a first-round loss at the hands of Central at UW-Stevens Point. Central drilled 11 of its first 12 shots, then withstood a second-half assault by the Oles to knock them off 85-72. The MIAC's other team was elimianted as well, as Augustana rode a near school-record shooting performance and dominance on the boards to an 88-77 win over No. 18 St. Thomas. The Vikings hit 35 of 51 field goal attempts for a .686 percentage and outrebounded the Tommies 33-20 in leading nearly wire-to-wire.
Not all of the games in the first round were competitive, however. Hosts Washington U. and Cabrini won by identical 100-69 scores, rolling over Wilmington and Bridgewater State.