Benedictine (21-6, 9-3 NIIC) took a similar road to the NIIC crown last season. Last year's Eagles, which were also seeded second in the NIIC Tournament, won at home in the first two rounds before playing at Aurora in the title game, where they posted a 74-70 win to earn their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in eight seasons. Clarke (20-7, 9-3 NIIC), meanwhile, finished the year by posting a school record for wins.
The visitors had the upper hand early, as Joemi Byrd scored seven points to stake Clarke to an 11-4 lead five minutes into the contest. Benedictine fought back to take a 16-15 advantage on a Dwight Mitchell lay-in near the 10-minute mark of the half.
Benedictine trailed by a point after Mitchell split a pair of free throws with just more than three minutes remaining in the half, but Clarke scored six straight points, capped by an Andy Fitzsimons bucket, to lead, 33-26, with a minute to go in the half. Benedictine clawed back to within 33-32 at the break, however, by scoring six points in the final 53 seconds of the half. Matt Harrison first knocked down a pair of free throws, Mitchell knocked down a pull-up jumper on a fast break, and Marcus Jackson picked up a steal and fed Zach Ramey for another bucket on the break.
Brice Amelianovich gave Benedictine the lead on the first possession of the second half, and the Eagles led no more than three over the next eight minutes. Chris Kilburg's free throws left Clarke with a 47-45 deficit with just more than 11 minutes left in regulation.
Mitchell sparked a 9-2 run with a 3-pointer from the far corner, and Harrison closed the spurt with a trey of his own that left the Eagles with their largest lead of the day (56-47) with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.
Clarke stayed within striking distance, and got to within 65-62 when Byrd hit a pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the key with five minutes remaining. The Crusaders crept even closer with under two minutes remaining when Hiraman Byrd hit a fallaway shot from the side of the lane to get Clarke within two (69-67).
Benedictine answered back with an Amelianovich lay-in, and after a Joemi Byrd turnover, Harrison converted a driving lay-up and an ensuing free throw to give the Eagles a 74-67 advantage. Benedictine hit 4-of-6 free throws the rest of the way to seal the win and complete the three-game series sweep of Clarke.
Harrison led five players in double figures with a game-high 20 points for Benedictine, while Jackson added a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. Amelianovich added 14 points, Ramey a double-double of 10 points and 10 assists, and Mitchell netted a career-high 10 off the bench. The Eagles shot 52 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes (15-29).
Hiraman Byrd led Clarke with 16 points, while brother Joemi added 15. Kilburg completed Clarke's double-figure scorers with 13 points. The Crusaders struggled mightily from 3-point range, making only 6-of-32 shots from long range.