By Pat Coleman
D3sports.com
FORT WAYNE — Somewhere, Lenny Reich is smiling.
His beloved Purple Raiders made just one 3-pointer all night, but it was a big one, and Mount Union rallied from 20 points down to defeat UW-Whitewater 83-79.
Mount Union will advance to play Christopher Newport on Saturday afternoon, March 19, at 4 p.m., for the 2023 Division III men's basketball national championship.
Reich, the school's longtime Sports Information Director who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 48 this past offseason, is memorialized on patches on the Mount Union uniforms this season. And his presence is never far from the minds of the Purple Raider faithful.
Whether it was Lenny in the mix or just amazing basketball, it matters little, because the Purple Raiders advanced to the Division III men’s basketball national championship game.
And that came after a first half most Mount Union fans would like to forget. The Purple Raiders (30-2) trailed 37-17 when the under-4 timeout came and the basketball game looked more like a football game between the schools, an epic rivalry which UWW came out on top in six times in nine meetings in the Division III title game.
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| Collen Gurley got a nice little string of buckets for Mount Union while Christian Parker was on the bench with foul trouble. Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com |
That deficit did not last, however. Mount Union produced a little flurry to the end of the half and cut that lead to 41-28 on a putback by reserve big man Logan Hill just before the halftime buzzer.
And it was clear that UW-Whitewater (25-8) was not going to be able to maintain a pace in which the Warhawks shot 57% from the floor and 5-for-11 (46%) from 3-point range. Instead, the Warhawks missed six of their first seven shots of the second half. And midway through the second half, when the Purple Raiders really warmed up, things got super hot from the floor as Mount Union hit five of six shots, and eight of 11, part of a 19-8 spurt.
With Christian Parker on the bench with four fouls, Collen Gurley took over. He put back his own miss with 7:55 left in the game to give Mount Union its first lead of the game, then hit a 3 off a curl on an inbounds play to put the Purple Raiders back up, 62-60, a possession later. It was Mount Union’s first made 3-pointer of the game after 15 misses. Gurley then drove from the left wing on consecutive possessions to give Mount Union a 66-62 advantage.
Gurley found a third attempt closed off, then decided to take another path to the basket, and saw his putback hit home for the four-point lead with 5:55 remaining.
“It was all the read,” Gurley said after the game. “What I learned at Youngstown State a lot was reading ball screens. So when I drove left both times, and then once he tried to cut me off right, I was like, we can read it the other way, come off the screen, find something, got to the rim.”
Down the stretch, it was Jeffery Mansfield’s ability to convert from the foul line which really sealed the game for Mount Union. The super-senior transfer from Wilmington finished 16-for-18 from the foul line, but just 2-for-13 from the floor. But his 20 points came at the most opportune time.
"I kind of pride myself on being able to make free throws. They're free for a reason. I didn't really shoot the free throw very well this season, but I know going through the postseason, I've put a lot of time into my repetitions and stuff. So I had confidence going into the line."
It was a huge performance for a player who started his Division III basketball career at Wilmington before transferring to Mount Union for his final year of eligibility.
“He doesn't care if he's scoring 20 or 12,” said Mount Union coach Mike Fuline. “So when you have guys like that, that have been through your system, who believe for that. It's special and that's why you're here.”
"When I got here, it was no question, whatever coach asked me to do, I was gonna do it,” Mansfield said. “Whether it was come off the bench -- I mean, we had conversations about that and I was like, coach, I care. I just wanna win.
"And then being with these guys, I can't explain that feeling how they brought me in, but it's been wonderful."
Parker shot 4-for-12 from the floor in the first half and had been on the bench for a good portion of the second half with four fouls. But he returned for the closing minutes. After Trevor Chislom scored in traffic in the lane to cut the Mount Union lead to 72-70, Parker answered, driving baseline to put his team back up by four with 2:35 left. After a Chislom miss on a second free throw attempt later in the game, Parker skied for the rebound. And when Parker finally picked up his fifth foul, he had totaled 29 points, including going 8-for-14 from the floor in the second half.
And down the stretch, Mount Union kept hitting its free throws to come away with the win. In addition to Parker’s 29, Mansfield finished with 20 and Gurley with 15, 13 of them in the second half. UW-Whitewater had Chislom, Carter Capstran and Miles Barnstable score 17 apiece, while Jameer Barker added 15.
The Purple Raiders joked afterward about whether it was better to come back and play right away on Friday or enjoy the day off and play on Saturday, which is the new norm at the Division III basketball championships.
But when it comes to talking about Lenny, Fuline’s demeanor changes and the emotion start pouring out. “We all know how much that he meant. …” and he trails off. Gurley tells him not to start crying. Parker says he can’t look, as if he can't watch Fuline hold back his emotions and also hold his own back.
Fuline eventually continues, holding back the tears: “For his family … and his friends, all you guys, he’s happy. Hopefully we got one more.”