Hobart, NCC rally; Bower-Malone drops 53

Mar 07, 2020
The look says it all.
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com
 

The Statesmen and Cardinals each came back from 13 down in the second half to win, while Nathan Bowers-Malone, whose playing time in the OAC tournament was limited, poured in a ton of points for Mount Union to get his team to the Sweet 16.

Host schools for the Sweet 16 games were announced Saturday night. The Elite 8 round will be played, along with the national semifinals, on March 20 and 21 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dan Masino hit a layup with two seconds left in the game, and Tucker Lescoe took away the inbounds pass as Hobart punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history, winning at Springfield 62-61.

Heath Post had put the Pride ahead on a jumper with 7.2 seconds left, at the end of a wild sequence in which Jake Ross lost the handle on the basketball and had to save it from going out of bounds. The ball went right into the hands of Post, who, for five seconds, looked like the hero. But the Statesmen (23-5) pushed the ball up the floor in the other direction, and Masino, a sophomore, hit the game-winner with 2.0 ticks left.

Sophomore Jackson Meshanic led the Statesmen with 22 points and eight rebounds. Lescoe added 15 points and Masino scored 13 points. Ross led the Pride (23-5) with 22 points. The Statesmen held the lead for just 1:09. Masino talked with Frank Rossi after the game:

After North Central rallied from 13 down to take the lead, Flynn came up with a tip-in to nudge Oshkosh back in front, 71-70. Oshkosh senior forward Adam Fravert blocked Meredith's shot attempt on the other end and collected the rebound, but Meredith came up with a steal which enabled Cappelletti to sink a 3-pointer with 15 seconds on the clock. Once again, however, Flynn came through with a second-chance bucket to tie the score at 73-73 and force overtime. With the score tied at 77-77 midway through the extra session, Meredith found Clausel for a layup before working the ball to Pollack for his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give North Central its largest lead of the game at 82-77. The Titans' Eddie Muench, however, countered with his fifth triple in five attempts and Mahoney tied the game once again with a pair of free throws.

Nathan Bower-Malone scored 53 points breaking the school's single-game scoring record en route to a Mount Union 90-77 defeat of York (Pa.) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Bower-Malone scored 32 of his points in the second half to help the Purple Raiders return to the Sweet 16. It's Mount Union's third trip to the third round. The Spartans cut the lead to two points with 8:33 left, but Mount Union (27-3) outscored York 28-17 the rest of the way. Bower-Malone went 15-for-21 from the floor, 7-for-8 from 3-point range and 16-for-19 from the line in the win.

Anders Nelson finished with 22 points and eight rebounds and Tommy Anderson added 15 points as No. 4-ranked St. Thomas defeated No. 8 UW-Platteville 73-70. The Tommies (26-3) advance to the March 13 Sweet 16 contest on the road against No. 2-ranked St. John's -- the teams' fourth meeting so far in 2020. The Purple are in the Sweet 16 for the third time in five seasons. Platteville's last lead was at 15-14 midway through the first half. The Pioneers tied the game a few times and later pulled within one point several times late, but St. Thomas refused to yield. 

Christopher Newport is heading to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row, as the Captains defeated Nichols 91-82. CNU held DeAnte Bruton to 23 points on 10-for-23 shooting, finishing his career at more than 2,300 career points. Nichols led by as many as six with 11:49 to go in the first half. The Captains (23-6) used an 8-0 run to re-claim the lead and never trailed again all night. Christopher Newport's biggest margin was 13 three minutes into the second half, 60-47. Nichols (21-9) rallied to cut the lead but could get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Trailing by seven points at halftime, Whitworth outscored host Texas-Dallas 43-29 in the second half to pull off a 73-66 win on the road in the second round. The Bucs (23-6) earned their first true NCAA tournament road win to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time, first since 2013. Leading 51-48 with 13:51 to play, Whitworth's offense hit a dry spot, allowing UTD to retake a 55-51 lead with 8:10 to go. That's when the Bucs awoke with a 9-2 run, capped by Ben College's 3-pointer for a 60-57 lead with 6:30 to go. One night after struggling at the free throw line down the stretch, Whitworth went 8-for-8 from the stripe over the final two and a half minutes of the game. College went 4-for-4 in the final twenty seconds to seal the win. "It's just a lot of joy," said College, who led his team with 24 points. "We have a great locker room with an amazing group of guys who are so tight. This just feels great."

After scoring zero points and two boards, due to foul trouble in the first half, Middlebury's Matt Folger recorded 16 points and seven rebounds in the second half. That, combined with Griffin Kornaker's big shot making from beyond the arc cut a nine-point Brockport lead to one with less than four minutes in regulation. A one-possession game for the rest of the way, it all came down to free throws in crunch time. Tyler Collins and Monte Stroman did their part to give the Golden Eagles an 83-81 lead with 8 seconds remaining. Middlebury's last possession found Ryan Cahill open for the potential game-winning corner 3-pointer, but the shot rimmed out and Brockport held on for an 84-81 victory, its 19th in a row.

Yeshiva earned its second NCAA Tournament win in as many days, defeating Penn State-Harrisburg 102-83 to improve to 29-1. Ryan Turell took game-high honors for the second consecutive outing, scoring 30 points while adding seven assists. Gabriel Leifer generated his fourth triple-double of the season, netting 10 points, leading all players with 20 rebounds, and delivering 10 assists.