UMHB wins at buzzer; NESCAC, UAA eliminated

Mar 04, 2023
Josiah Johnsonand his UMHB teammates had a fun night in Belton, Texas.
Photo by David Morris for Mary Hardin-Baylor athletics
 

Josiah Johnson buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to allow Mary Hardin-Baylor to leave Texas, while the University Athletic Association and the New England Small College Athletic Conference, which combined for nine of the 64 teams in the Division III men's basketball NCAA Tournament bracket, will combine for zero teams in the Sweet 16.

Host schools for the rounds of 16 and 8 are as follows: Randolph-Macon, Mount Union, Swarthmore and Christopher Newport.

The back-and-forth battle between East Texas Baptist and Mary Hardin-Baylor went all the way down to the buzzer, as the seventh lead change of the game was the last one, lifting UMHB to a 72-70 win in the second round of the 2023 Division III men's basketball NCAA Tournament.

D.J. Kane hit a 3-pointer with just under 5 minutes left in the game to give UMHB a 59-58 lead. That lead extended to four points at 65-61, with 1:57 left, and Johnson answered an Aaron Gregg 3-pointer with a jump shot to keep it at three with 1:13 to play. Jayden Williams answered by burying a 3 at the top of the arc to tie it up at 67, and after Johnson his two free throws, Gregg hit a three from the far wing to give his team a 70-69 lead with 11 seconds left. At a time out, Johnson subbed back in, as he was playing with four fouls, and he got the ball at the near wing and let it fly, burying it and touching off the celebration in front of a raucous crowd of 1,143 at UMHB's Mayborn Center.

Johnson finished with 32 points, going 3-for-7 from beyond the arc, and had a game-high six steals.

The second round very nearly ended with buzzer beaters in the last two games of the night, but Evan Thomas's shot missed, allowing UW-Oshkosh to hold on against Hope, 51-50. Will Mahoney scored a game-high 23 points off the bench to lead the Titans, while Levi Borchert added 12 points and 11 rebounds. Thomas finished with 14 points for Hope, which shot just 35.6 percent from the floor and 25.9 percent from beyond the arc.

Johns Hopkins used a 10-1 run early in the second half to turn a 35-35 tie into a 45-36 lead with just over 16 minutes remaining and the Blue Jays never allowed visiting Hamilton to make it a one-possession game again as the Blue Jays knocked off the Continentals, 81-71. That loss, along with Williams' loss at St. Joseph (Conn.), Tufts' loss at Keene State and Middlebury's home loss to Nichols, eliminated the NESCAC from the NCAA Tournament. With the win, the Blue Jays advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015 and the third time in program history. Carson James scored a career-high 26 points, as he was 10-of-17 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Johns Hopkins will play UW-Whitewater in the Sweet 16, at defending national champion Randolph-Macon.

Nichols extended its winning streak to a program-best 19 games as the Bison won at Middlebury, 73-66. Nichols rallied from another double-digit deficit, after trailing in the first half. Jakigh Dottin had back-to-back buckets at the end of the first half to give Nichols a 33-31 lead. Nichols used runs of 9-0 and 7-0 in the second half to extend out their lead and held on for the 73-66 win, sending the Bison to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. Quincy Ferebee was the leading scorer for Nichols with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

Case Western Reserve's season came to an end in the second round, as the Spartans fell to UW-Whitewater at home, 78-75. Case (22-4) cut a double-digit deficit down to four at halftime, and another double-digit deficit down to one with 5:47 to, but Whitewater (23-7) pulled that lead back to eight, led 77-70 with 37 seconds left, and held on for the win. Miles Barnstable led all scorers with 27 points, while Trevon Chislom added 21 in the victory.

St. Joseph (Conn.) continued its historic postseason run, knocking off No. 14 Williams, 75-54, inside James A. Calhoun Gymnasium in West Hartford, Conn. The win marks the second-ever time that a school from the Great Northeast Athletic Conference has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, joining the 2014 Albertus Magnus team. The Blue Jays led by double digits for the majority of final 30 minutes of the game. Ryan O'Neill led the way with 21 points and eight rebounds. Nate Karren was limited to 15 points and fouled out in just 23 minutes of action as Williams fell to 23-5.

North Park overcame a 14-point second half deficit and won at Washington University 72-69. Wash U led 43-33 at the half and 49-35 at the 16-minute mark of the second half. After a couple of quick layups, North Park then used a 9-0 that cut the lead to one with 7:06 left. The Bears (20-7) pushed the lead back out to four at 64-60 with 6:13 to go, but buckets by Kolden Vanlandingham and Shamar Pumphrey tied the game at 64 with just under five minutes remaining. A pair of Jordan Boyd free throws gave NPU (24-5) its first lead of the second half, and after two more ties at 66 and at 68 the Vikings went ahead for good with a made Jordan Boyd free throw at 2:17, a Wash U shot clock violation forced by the North Park defense, and a Jackson layup with 1:22 to go, as the Vikings finished off their win.

Devin Green scored 21 points and added 11 rebounds as Oswego rallied from a 10-point first half deficit, then led by 17 in the second half before holding on for a 66-61 win in a heavyweight battle with John Carroll. John Carroll cut the lead to five with two minutes remaining. Cartier Bowman converted on a heavily contested layup with just a minute and a half remaining in the game to give the Lakers a seven point lead. With ten seconds remaining, Bowman secured the game-winning rebound and was fouled on while securing the rebound. Bowman missed his free throw and was able to secure his own rebound for the Lakers.

Jeff Hunter scored a game-high 25 points, and he and Octavio Brito each posted double-doubles as Keene State downed Tufts 77-72 in front of a packed house at Spaulding Gymnasium. Tufts led by two at the half, but Keene State scored the first seven points of the second half. Tufts knotted the game back up at 48 before Keene opened the lead back up to eight. Tyler Aronson hit two 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to make the game close in front of an announced crowd of 2,000.

Davidson Hubbard posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but Hampden-Sydney dropped a 72-59 decision at home to Christopher Newport. Junior DJ Wright added 13 points for the Tigers, while classmate and team captain Adam Brazil had 11 points and a game-high four assists. H-SC trailed 28-24 at halftime against the Captains, who were led by Rodney Graves with a game-high 19 points off the bench, while Jahn Hines added 18 points and Trey Barber had a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. CNU, ranked second nationally, improved to 26-3 and advances to next weekend's NCAA Sectionals. H-SC, ranked 20th nationally, completes its campaign with a final record of 22-7, only its fourth 20-win season in 20 years. Graves led CNU with his game-high 19 points, including 4-for-8 3-point sooting, adding seven rebounds. Hines added his 18 points along with six rebounds.

Stockton returned to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row with a 68-65 win against Mary Washington. The Eagles had gone on an 8-0 run to take a 44-43 lead with over 11 minutes remaining. The teams traded baskets until the Ospreys took their last lead of the game on a Tayvon Gaither basket for a 61-60 lead. The final 4:51 was a tense affair with numerous missed opportunities on both ends. A pair of free throws each by Kadian Dawkins and Jonathan Azoroh lus a huge three ball by Flanders with 1:56 left sealed the game in favor of Stockton. The Eagles were able to make two free throws but that was close as they would come.

Top-ranked Randolph-Macon had an easy time of it, as the Yellow Jackets won their 64th consecutive home game, defeating Scranton 63-41. Miles Mallory recorded his second straight double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Daniel Mbangue led all scorers with 16 points. It's R-MC's 27th consecutive win overall and 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament win.