The Vikings secured an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament with a thrilling 82-77 overtime victory over Ripon College in the championship game of the Midwest Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon at Alexander Gymnasium.
Lawrence (19-5) will learn when and whom it will play when the pairings are announced Sunday evening at 9:30 p.m. Central time.
Lawrence, champions of the Midwest Conference for the second straight year, won its second MWC Tournament title in a row by making clutch play after clutch play down the stretch against the Red Hawks (18-7).
Chris Braier paced Lawrence with 24 points and nine rebounds. Dan Evans added 18 points and Kyle MacGillis had 15. Tom Becker led Ripon with 24 points and played all 45 minutes. Jered Massen had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while David McMullen added 15 points and Brian Schmitting had 14 points on 7 of 7 shooting from the floor.
The game see-sawed with neither team leading by more than six points, and the game had 11 ties.
Lawrence took a four-point lead late when Braier scored on a layup with 2:27 left. After a pair of free throws from Massen, MacGillis scored on another layup to put the Vikings up 70-66. McMullen followed with a pair of free throws, and Schmitting hit a short jumper with 1:14 left to tie the score at 70-70.
Jason Holinbeck had a chance to win it in regulation for Lawrence, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer missed.
Lawrence took the lead for good in the overtime at 76-74 on Braier's layup with 51 seconds left. After a missed jumper by Becker, the Red Hawks fouled Evans, who hit both free throws.
Becker then missed a 3-pointer and Evans was fouled again with 14 seconds left. He hit both free throws to put Lawrence up 80-74. Massen then canned a 3-pointer, but the Red Hawks fouled Evans again. He made both free throws with six seconds left to seal the victory.
This is the third time Lawrence and Ripon have played in the tournament title game. Ripon had beaten Lawrence in 1998 at Monmouth and again in 2000 at Lake Forest.