For Trine, run is 'such a dream'

More news about: Trine
Mar 16, 2024
Cortez Garland, the Most Outstanding Player of the championship, gets to hold the trophy as the Thunder celebrate.
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com | More photos from this game
 

By Riley Zayas
D3sports.com

FORT WAYNE, Indiana — The roll of The Thunder could be felt inside Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night. 

In front of a crowd of 4,546 — the largest ever recorded for a Division III men’s national title game — Trine captured its first NCAA Tournament title on Saturday evening, defeating top-ranked Hampden-Sydney, 69-61, just 41 miles from home. 

Trine becomes the first team since UW-Platteville in 1991 to win a national title in its NCAA Tournament debut. 

“Tonight was absolutely amazing,” Trine senior guard Cortez Garland said shortly after cutting down the nets. “This is such a dream to play in an arena like this and have it pretty much packed out. It’s special.” 

Garland, who played 39 minutes in the victory, earned Most Outstanding Player honors, as he shot 6-of-12 from the field, 9-of-9 at the free throw line, and scored a team-high 22 points. Garland, who converted on the game-winner in overtime to send Trine to the Final Four exactly a week prior, was critical in lifting the Thunder to victory. 

Perhaps his most notable stretch of play in the title game came in the opening minutes of the second half, as HSC led 25-23 at the halftime intermission. Garland led Trine’s charge in the first 2:09, tying the game with a jumper before taking a 27-25 lead on a pair of free throws. And his 3-pointer at the 17:51 mark brought Trine’s enormous crowd to its feet, as the Thunder gained a five-point lead; their largest of the day at that point. 

Then came Garland’s driving layup with 3:42 left, as he answered a layup from HSC’s Josiah Hardy by getting fouled on the offensive end as his layup fell through the net. The crowd expressed its approval at the momentum-changing play, as the Tigers had cut the deficit to 50-47 on Hardy’s score. Garland completed the three-point play, and extended the advantage to 53-47, keeping Trine in control. 

But it was not the only push from HSC late, despite the Tigers’ offensive struggles for much of the final 20 minutes, shooting 11-of-35 from the field and 3-of-13 from 3-point range in the second half. With 40.5 seconds left, a layup from Davidson Hubbard followed by a pair of free throws from Adam Brazil cut the deficit to five as the Tigers remained in contention. 

Trine, however, was 20-of-23 from the free throw line in the second, including 6-of-6 in the final minute. The consistency at the line contributed to the Thunder sealing their monumental victory, Miller noted postgame. 

“We thought we could have an emotional advantage if we stayed the course and stayed calm through the good and the bad,” Trine head coach Brooks Miller said. “When you’re making free throws there, we were very present in the time and what needed to be done.”

Trine entered the NCAA Tournament having dropped three of its previous five, including a disappointing 87-75 loss to Olivet on Feb. 10. But the Thunder stayed the course, and never wavered; a mentality that led to six straight tournament victories. It was a similar mindset as Trine faced a two-point halftime deficit on Saturday. 

“You walk into this locker room that we have all year,” Miller said, “and the look on these guys’ faces just gives you so much confidence.” 

Scoring droughts proved characteristic in the low-scoring first half, with both teams pushing through multi-minute scoreless spans. Trine hit a skid first, with a drought of four minutes, before Smylie connected on a pair of free throws with 12:48 left, cutting the HSC lead to 11-8. 

But even then, the Thunder did not convert on another field goal attempt until Tucker stepped up with a jumper at the 6:36 mark. The same could be said for HSC, who was dealt its share of offensive struggles midway through the opening half. In part due to the defensive intensity on both ends, and partially as a result of missed shots at the rim, the Tigers were off the mark on 11 consecutive shots and Trine missed seven straight. And both of those stretches came simultaneously. 

Brazil stepped up for HSC, however, breaking a near-six-minute drought with a 3-pointer from the left wing as the crowd donning red erupted. With 8:17 until halftime, HSC led 14-8, and Brazil followed that with another swish from beyond the arc, this one coming from the right wing. 

The 17-8 advantage faded quickly. Trine, backed by its enormous crowd, pulled back the momentum behind a series of key shots and defensive stands. It started with the jump-shot from Tucker with 6:36, and while Shane Fernald answered on the other end for HSC, Trine followed with a 13-0 run. Smylie hit a 3-pointer early in the spurt and the Thunder took a 23-19 advantage on an offensive putback from Cortez Garland. 

It was the sort of run Trine needed, as the Thunder put their shooting woes in the rearview mirror while HSC battled through a four-minute scoring drought. The Tigers closed the half by scoring the final six points, including a 3-pointer from Brazil with eight seconds left. 

Trine then outscored HSC 46-36 in the second half, as the Thunder offense took a step forward. Trine was 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 11-of-21 from the field over the final 20 minutes. 

“The first half of that game was an absolute war at both ends,” Miller said. “I thought each team made the other one work extremely hard and we knew that going in, it was going to be a physical battle. [HSC] was relentless in attacking the rim. At halftime, we really had one plan, and that was to stick with what we had been talking about: Get the ball side-to-side and attack it later in the clock. If you do drive early, let’s hunt, drive, and kick situations for reversals. They’re so good and strong, we had to wear them down somehow.”

After Garland keyed the 7-0 run early in the second half, Trine led by as many as eight in the minutes that followed. With 13:11 left, Fernald came up with a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layup as Trine’s lead shrunk to 36-33. 

But just as Trine did throughout the tournament, the Thunder countered, scoring on consecutive possessions. Nate Tucker’s layup and Drew Moore’s 3-pointer put them up 41-33, and that pattern unfolded for much of the final 20 minutes. 

When the final buzzer sounded, Smylie tossed the ball high into the air as the confetti came raining down. Despite offensive challenges, tight tournament matchups, and the ebbs and flows of a season, Trine rose above it all. 

“We didn’t quit,” Smylie said. “I think it may be a good thing that we lost one or two of those [regular season] games, just to figure out what we needed to do. We clicked at the right time. It’s just amazing to be where we are right now.’