ODAC Season 27 National Tournament First Round Recaps
West Region
#1 (#2) Lynchburg 88
#16 Greensboro 73
Hornets sting Pride with late game run
In the West Regional, #1 seed Lynchburg rallied from a 1-point halftime deficit to oust the upstart Greensboro Pride, kicking off the Hornets bid for a return trip to the Final Four. The Hornets led most of the first half but never had more than a five point advantage, the last time when James Atkinson tipped in a James Huffton miss at the 10:31 mark. From there, the Pride went on a 10-0 run, culminating in a Tony Caba tap follow that gave Greensboro a five point lead of their own, their largest of the game. The Hornets responded and took the lead again on a Bryan Kelly 3-pointer with 2:00 in the first half. But, Greensboro, who at 17-12, had to win the USA South Conference Tournament to gain an automatic bid to the NT, refused to give in to Lynchburg, regular season and CT champions from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Capitalizing on Hornet blunders, the Pride took advantage of two Lynchburg turnovers and two missed free throws in the final 1:33 of the first half to lead by one at the break.
The second half started out much like the first half ended, with the Pride extending their lead to five with just over 12 minutes . Suddenly the Hornets, who shot 39% in the first half, got hot, making eight straight field goals and three free throws to build a six point lead of their own with 6:35 in the game. Greensboro's Jerome Taylor fed Raymond Gibbens for a lay-up with 5:33 to cut the Hornet lead back to four before 2nd ranked Lynchburg went on a game-closing 17-6 run. In the decisive five minutes, the senior trio of Ricky Matranga (6 points), Paul Dever (6) and Christopher Godinez (5), scored all of Lynchburg's points to seal the victory and send Coach Barretchap back to the Round of 32.
Lynchburg, who shot 71% in the second half, was led by Player of the Game, Matranga with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Godinez added 15 and 1st team All-ODAC SF Atkinson chipped in 14 points. Dever and PF Martin Myricks (off the bench) added 11 points each for the Hornets.
Taylor, who had a game-high 20 points, led the scoring for Greensboro. The Pride who ended their season at 17-13 was making their first NT appearance in 25 seasons. Lynchburg, moves to 25-5 and now has the first back-to-back 25-win seasons in school history. The Hornets take on #9 seed Plymouth State, a 75-74 winner over #8 seed York (Pa.), in the Round of 32.
South Region
#4 Emory & Henry 71
#13 St. Scholastica 65
Wasps weather Storm to advance
Ten seasons had passed since Emory & Henry last had a winning season and 20 seasons had gone by since the Wasps last made an appearance in the National Tournament. Four seasons ago, at the urging of other ODAC coaches, the administration at Emory & Henry went out and hired Hall of Fame coach dalter to lead Emory & Henry's return to prominence. Last night, dalter's Wasps took a big step in that revival, turning back #13 St. Scholastica in a 71-65 win in the opening round of the South Regional.
The game started out back and forth with eight lead changes or ties in the first 15:15 of the game before Emory & Henry took control at the 4:45 mark. After St. Scholastica's Thomas Pierson tied the game at 19, the Wasps closed out the half with an 11-3 run.
In the second half, the Storm whittled away Emory & Henry's lead before taking their first second half lead at the 14:41 mark when Steven Lewis scored despite being fouled by the Wasps' Nelson Yablonski. Ten minutes later the game was tied again when Emory & Henry's Mark Cheek drained his one and only 3-point attempt of the game to give the 4th seeded Wasps a 58-55 lead, one they would never relinquish.
Emory & Henry's lead swelled to as many as ten in the final minutes as the Storm tried desperately to get back into the game. The Wasps sank 11 of 15 free throws in the game's final 2:57 to ice the win, despite being out-rebounded 40-29. For the game Emory & Henry struggled to a 26% showing from long range but connected on 65% of their 2 point attempts while holding the Storm 39% shooting for the game.
Albert Ayotte led four Wasps in double figures. Robert Sturgis (14), Cheek (12) and Yablonski (11) followed Ayotte's 17 points. St. Scholastica was led by Earl Reynoso's 17 points despite struggling to a 3-11 night beyond the arc. E&H faces 12th seeded Hendrix, an upset winner over #4 seed SUNY-Cortland, in the Round of 32.
#6 Washington & Jefferson 81
#11 Whittier College 66
Presidents (not Poets) in motion in WJC win
Washington & Jefferson College had never made back-to-back NT appearances until Coach Jreitz led the Presidents back to the NT with an 18 win regular season and the nation's 8th best RPI. After pummeling the Whittier College Poets with an impressive second half barrage, WJC is now headed back to the Round of 32 for the second straight season.
After spotting the Poets a five-point halftime lead, the Presidents got their motion offense going versus the Poets sagging zone in the second stanza, shooting 50% from the field including sinking 6 of 8 second half 3-point attempts (62%). The Presidents trailed the entire first half after center Leon Mitchell sank two free throws to tie the game at 2-2 1:47 into the contest.
In the second half, Mitchell stole the ball from the Poet's Harold Wicklund and scored to give Washington & Jefferson their first lead of the game at 46-45, two minutes into the second frame. The Presidents never trailed again and after Gino Kanode nailed his third trifecta of the game at 15:45, Whittier never got closer to five points again.
The Presidents were led by Mitchell (17) and James Knopf who posted his fifth double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 boards. Wicklund's 16 points led the Poets, champions of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Washington & Jefferson will face 7th ranked Northland College, the South's #3 seed, in the Round of 32.
East Region
#6 E. Mennonite 63
#11 Skidmore 49
Royals race past Thoroughbreds
In what was one of the most anticipated first round match-ups of the season, 6th-seeded Eastern Mennonite took on 11th-seeded Skidmore behind two coaches who have a combined 27 NT appearances. The game never materialized into the barnburner fans expected. After Skidmore center Benjamin Lisowski sank two free throws to tie the game at 4-4, the Royals reeled off a 20-6 run. Forcing 11 Skidmore turnovers in the first half, Eastern Mennonite led 27-18 at the break, holding the Thoroughbreds to 37% shooting.
The second half belonged to E. Mennonite as Skidmore never got closer to seven points again. Lisowski threw down an alley-oop jam off a feed from Carl Abramowski at the 4:16 mark to cut the lead to 48-41. The Royals then hit 11 of 12 free throws in the last four minutes of the game to send Skidmore to their earliest NT exit in six seasons.
The Royals were led by center Robert Stevenson's 16 points and Sydney Heard's 15 points, which included 11 points in the second half. The duo also combined to hit all 17 of their free throws for the game. Heard hit all 9 of his charity tosses while Stevenson, an 85% FT shooter on the season, canned all 8 attempts. Lisowski and Heriberto Cerranto led the Skidmore effort with 13 points apiece.
Skidmore fell to 20-9 on the year while the Royals bagged their 21st win in moving on to face another tradition-laden program in #3 seeded Translyvania coached by alblack, the 5th winningest coach in Iba NT history.
#8 Washington & Lee 92
#9 U.S. Coast Guard 86
Generals send Bears into hibernation with
After a one-year hiatus, #8 seed Washington & Lee returned to the NT with an impressive come from behind win over 9th seeded Coast Guard who earned an at-large bid after a 21-win regular season out of the SUNYAC conference.
Ten minutes into the game, the Generals trailed by six points, with the Coast Guard Bears hitting 8 of their first 9 shots of the game. After spotting the Bears a 22-16 lead at the 10:34 mark, the Generals outscored the Guard by 11 over the last 10 minutes of the second half to lead 44-39 at the break, led by 12 points from 2-time ODAC Player of the Year Jeremy Jeffrey and 10 points from 2nd team All-ODAC performer, Robert Stucker.
However, the Bears proved they were far from done as they took the lead on back-to-back three's by John Atchison, the second with just under 14 minutes . There were 9 game ties or lead changes in the last 14 minutes with and the Generals trailed by 3 with 4:28 to go when Jeffrey took over. First, he picked up one of his three steals, picking off an errant David Stahlman pass and starting the break which he finished off with an old-fashioned 3-point play with 3:59 to tie the score at 80. After the Bears took the lead again, Jeffrey put back a Derek Maloney miss to knot the game again, this time at 82. Then it was Maloney's time to shine as he scored 7 of his 15 points in the final 1:47 to sink the Coast Guard ship.
Jeffery finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The 2-time POY also showed why he won back-to-back ODAC Defensive Player of the Year Awards with 3 steals to go with 3 blocks, pushing his career total to 196. Four other Generals chipped in with double figure nights, including Maloney (15), Stucker (14), and Zachary Toothman and Justin Riggins with 10 each. Riggins 10 points off the bench marked the first double digit scoring night since he had 12 in the season-opener. Atchison led the Coast Guard with a game-high 21 points.
The Generals move on to a date in the Round of 32 with top seeded, #1 ranked and unbeaten Endicott, winners of 30 in a row. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy ends their season at 21-9.
Midwest Region
#8 Virgina Wesleyan 62
#9 SUNY-IT 55
Marlins slowdown Wildcats to advance
#8 seed Virginia Wesleyan, surprise co-champions of the ODAC West division and SUNY-IT, surprise co-champions of the SUNYAC West division, had a lot in common entering last night's 1st round showdown. Besides, their outstanding season's, each school featured a new coach trying to breathe fresh life into a dismal basketball program.
Prior to this season, SUNY-IT had never made it into the NT and their lone post-season appearance ever was a first round PIT loss in season 13. On the other hand, Virginia Wesleyan does own one Final Four trip - in season 4. Since then, they've gone 22 seasons and 7 coaches without a NT appearance.
SUNY-IT tried to run the Marlins out of the building early on with their uptempo offense and fullcourt press defense. However, the Marlins were content in slowing the game down, running their offense and letting their stifling man-to-man defense, which leads the nation in 3-pt FG% defense, do the dirty work. The plan worked to perfection as the Marlins limited the Wildcats to 17% shooting from beyond the arc and forced the Wildcats into 13 turnover including 8 in the decisive first half.
Junior guard Daniel Lagarde led the Marlins with 14 points and 9 rebounds while two Wildcat reserves, guard Ronald Malinovsky (12) and center Matthew Koepp (11) led the scoring for the losers.
VWC now will now face #1 seed and #3 ranked Adrian, a 24-point winner over 16-seeded Newbury in the first round. SUNY-It ends their season with a school-record 23 wins against 6 losses.
#6 Calvin 93
#11 Guilford 76
Knights joust Quakers from NT
The Calvin Knights traveled to Greensboro, NC on March 19th and embarassed the home-standing Quakers with a 38-point thrashing. Last night's 1st round NT match-up figured to be different than that game when Guilford shot a season low 26% from the field in the 75-37 loss.
The Quakers started strong in this one, leading by 4 with 7:31 to go in the first half and then things turned sour for the underdogs. Calvin went on a 20-7 run beginning with an Aaron Clark trifecta at the 7:21 spot. Guilford only hit 2 of their final 9 field goals in the first half and missed all 3 of their free throws in that span to see the Calvin lead grow to 9 at the half.
The second half was more of the same as Calvin limited the Quakers to six field goals in the final period on 35% shooting which included an 0-5 effort from downtown. The Quakers also had 10 of their 14 turnovers in the second half as they unraveled in the second half. For the game Guilford was held to 18% shooting from behind the arc.
Calvin's George Gaston (26 points and 10 rebounds) paced the Knights effort. He was joined in double figures by post players Jeffrey Bradfield and Joshua Younker (16 and 13 respectively) and guards Chris Biron (13) and Jonathan McCoppin (11).
Matthew Boles had 17 points for Guilford and 3 other players (Allen Gauvin, Chuck Bitner and reserve Mark Graig) posted 11 points apiece. Bitner also added 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Calvin (21-9) moves on versus #3 seed Elizabethtown while Guilford, the defending National Champions, fails to win at least one NT game for the first time in their last 7 NT appearances and finishes at 18-11.