By Riley Zayas
Managing Editor, True to the Cru

FORT WAYNE, Indiana -- The stands inside the spacious Allen County War Memorial Coliseum were covered in a sea of red. After all, Wabash, located 159 miles away from Fort Wayne, was playing in its first Final Four since 1982. But for Elmhurst, the winner of two of its last three true road games, it did not matter. 

The Blue Jays’ smaller, yet just as vocal fan base, provided some of the momentum. On the court, Elmhurst did the rest.

• Updated 2022 NCAA Tournament bracket
• Photo gallery from this game
• Buzz, Jackets team up to beat Marietta
• More men's tournament headlines

With 8:35 left in Friday night’s national semifinal, Elmhurst’s Jake Rhode picked up a rebound from a blocked shot on one end, then easily drained a 3-pointer on the other. One possession later, it was Lavon Thomas who scored off the glass for the Blue Jays. And just like that, Elmhurst had a 30-point lead. 

For a program playing in its first Final Four, there were no wide eyes on the Elmhurst roster. Poised, visibly confident, and dominant offensively against a team that entered the matchup averaging eight more points per game, Elmhurst rolled to a 90-68 victory. 

Great sequence for Elmhurst, a huge blocked shot leading to a fast-break 3 for @JRhode_1. #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/hfptjmPBBo

— D3hoops/Pat Coleman (@d3hoops) March 19, 2022

“I told our guys, ‘Nothing we do coming here is going to diminish what a great season we’ve had,’' Elmhurst coach John Baines said postgame. “This is incredible. It’s a great season. But I don’t go back for my 20th reunion for the third-place game, honestly. I go back for the big one. I put it on these guys that we wanted to give it a run at the two games.” 

A second game Elmhurst will get indeed. The victory left little doubt of Elmhurst’s validity as one of the nation’s top programs in D-III men’s basketball this season. It also earned the Blue Jays a spot in the national title game against top-ranked Randolph-Macon on Saturday at 6 p.m. EDT. 

“We’re excited for it,” Elmhurst forward Bryce Drews said of Saturday’s matchup. “When we’re playing our best basketball, we’re just as good, if not better, than anyone else in the country.” 

Despite a sea of red in Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, the Bluejays came away with the win. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

After Wabash controlled the opening tip, neither team found many high-percentage shots over the game’s first five minutes, with both defenses locking in. But the second-chance opportunities off of those early misses came often for both squads as the contest progressed, with the opponents combining for five offensive boards in the opening four minutes. 

In fact, at the first media timeout, 15:59 into the contest, four of Elmhurst’s six points were off of second-chance opportunities, as the Blue Jays led 6-4. Soon, the quantity of those second-chances on the offensive end dwindled, partially due to an increased awareness from both defenses, but also a result of each team finding its offensive rhythm. 

Wabash, keeping immense pressure on the ball, forced five turnovers within the first eight minutes, and while it kept the Little Giants in the contest for a short time, it did little in slowing Elmhurst’s offensive flow, which was paced by Rhode’s 19 first-half points. 

With 10:48 remaining in the opening half, Elmhurst’s Dominic Genco drove to the lane, crossing over twice as he spun around the defender, and drew a foul. The fifth-year senior converted on both attempts from the line, tying the Blue Jays’ largest lead of the game, 18-12, but Wabash quickly responded. Kellen Schreiber’s pull-up jumper then made it a one-possession game, but Rhode had an answer. It seemed he had an answer to everything Wabash did offensively. The senior, playing with tremendous confidence, went down the floor and connected on a 3-pointer from the left wing that calmly swished through the net, promptly ending Wabash’s brief 4-0 run. 

It turned out, that shot was only the beginning. Rhode was 6-of-9from the field in the first half, and once his second long-range three fell through the net, Elmhurst never looked back. Following that shot, which put the Blue Jays up 27-18 with under eight minutes left, Elmhurst capped the first half on a 21-14 run, leading 48-34 once both teams headed to halftime. 

Rhode was on the floor for the second half, but as it turned out, Wabash’s leading scorer was not. Schreiber, the 6-5 junior forward, was disqualified from the contest on a flagrant foul with 4:32 left, much to the dismay of the large crowd clad in red. 

“He made a really bad play,” Wabash head coach Kyle Brummett said after the game. “He doesn’t want to play that way. We don’t want to play that way. It’s just another piece of what made tonight difficult and disappointing.”

He was an offensive factor sorely missed as Wabash aimed at a second-half comeback, especially with Davidson held to just five first-half points and a total of 21 in the contest. 

“Leading up, I guarded two of the best players I have played in college,” Elmhurst’s Wesley Hooker said of guarding Davidson for much of the game. “For me mentally, it is sort of a personal thing. I don’t want to allow anybody to get off and score 30 or 40 points on me like they do to other teams.” 

Elmhurst opened the second half much like it finished the first, with Thomas tipping it to himself twice before the ball fell through, using his 6’5, 280 lb frame to outmuscle the Wabash defenders. The Blue Jays scored the first four points of the half, but Wabash scored the next four, and with 17:30, Davidson finally tallied his first field goal of the day. He added two more points to his stat total less than two minutes later, racing down floor on a breakaway layup that cut the Elmhurst lead to 53-40. 

The Little Giants got the deficit all the way down to 11, on the last of three Davidson free throws with 14:53 remaining, but were unable to get any closer. After being involved in a pair of down-to-the-wire contests the weekend prior, Elmhurst was in no mood to engage in another. A 7-0 run that gave the Blue Jays a 66-48 advantage was evidence to prove that. 

“These guys did it on their own,” Baines said of his team maintaining the lead. “They had a lot of focus coming here and one of the hardest things to do when you come here is remember there are two basketball games included with it. There’s a lot going on, and I thought our guys did a great job of enjoying the experience of getting here, then tuning it out and playing a basketball game.”

From that point on, Elmhurst had control. When Genco completed another three-point play with 5:07 left, extending the Blue Jays’ lead back to 30, the crowd erupted and the Elmhurst bench sprang to its feet. Genco finished with 20 points off the bench, shooting seven-of-11 and finishing with four assists. 

“I’ve said it so many times that it’s getting old, but he’s an all-league level starter,” Baines said of Genco. “We have an embarrassment of riches in terms of our talent level and he’s coming off the bench and playing unbelievable basketball right now.” 

Having Genco playing a significant role improved Rhode’s open looks as well, as the Wabash defense was forced to guard both guards in addition to a number of post players who were consistent all evening, tallying 52 points in the paint. 

“It really helps Jake also, because Jake plays with the ball a lot,” Baines added. “When Dom takes it, and you have a threat with the ball and you can move Jake off the ball, it’s really a two-headed monster.” 

The offensive attack of Elmhurst wore down Wabash’s offense as the contest progressed, but the defense was also noteworthy. The Little Giants were held to 21 points below their season average of 89.8 points per game, and shot just 22 percent from three-point range. 

Even in defeat, however, Wabash looked back on the tournament run with a reflection of how far this team, who had won 24 straight entering the night, has come throughout this year. 

“It doesn’t seem fair at the moment, but the one thing I want future players and anyone who plays college basketball is to invest in it,” Wabash senior Tyler Watson said postgame.   “Give your all to it – day in, day out – you won’t regret it.”

A tough ending for Wabash, and another game earned for Elmhurst. Tomorrow the D-III season comes to a close, and a national champion will be crowned in Fort Wayne. 

“It’s fun playing these types of games against great competition,” Hooker said. “We’re going to battle it out and see who comes out on top.” 

Riley Zayas is co-founder of the website True to the Cru, which covers Mary Hardin-Baylor athletics. He is an occasional contributor to D3sports.com.