Notables

Travis Spaman hit an 18-footer with 0.8 seconds remaining in the game to lead Hope to a 54-53 upset of St. Norbert. The Green Knights, the No. 6 seed in the West, had taken a 53-52 lead on No. 10 Hope on a layup with 10 seconds left before Hope's Chad Carlson drove the lane and kicked it out to the freshman (left) for the game-winner. Hope advances to face Carthage on Saturday. It was one of only three first-round games decided by fewer than seven points, as the 2002 first round was the least competitive of the three held under the current selection format.

Williams rolled No. 48-seeded Cazenovia out of the tournament by blowing the Wildcats away 121-49, in the largest blowout in Division III tournament history. Great Lakes No. 9 seed Lycoming shut down No. 7 seed Gettysburg 78-59. Check out first-round scores with game stories.

Atlantic No. 11 Cabrini turned the tables on No. 7 Kings Point as the Cavaliers pulled away to an 85-73 win. And the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference put two teams into the second round as Tillman Sims and Brad Merriweather each posted double-doubles to lead Alvernia past Ithaca 76-67. The seeded bracket.

Thirty-six of the 50 women's tournament teams begin their journeys on the Road to Terre Haute tonight, including a thriller in our featured broadcast game, with sophomore All-American Allison Coleman hitting one of two free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining to give No. 7-ranked Eastern Connecticut State a 62-61 victory in first-round action over Salem State. Case Western got a half-court shot at the buzzer by Jasmine Rowan to advance past Mt. St. Mary 59-56. It was half of an Ohio-at-New York sweep, as Ohio Wesleyan knocked off Buffalo State 71-61. Emmanuel started on the upset road again, as the No. 11 Saints knocked off No. 6 Southern Maine 63-51.

We've got the night's scores, with game stories.

After compiling 23 wins and a handful of narrow losses, Capital found itself on the outside looking in when the NCAA Tournament pairings were released Sunday night.

The 23 wins by head coach Damon Goodwin's squad were the most among teams that did not get in the tournament, along with Christopher Newport. "One of the things that we wanted to make sure we looked at was their in-region record and we have to regardless of who they lost to, they still compiled those losses," said NCAA men's basketball committee chair Tom Hart in an exclusive live question-and-answer session on D3hoops.com. "There were a couple of criteria that gave pause to the committee. It made us look at Capital hard. We're not really looking at point differentials. It's not one of the criteria."

Capital was 20-5 in the all-important regional record. Hanover, also left out of the tournament despite being the only team to defeat Washington U., having finished 13-5 in the region. Franklin & Marshall was left out despite being 4-2 against NCAA Tournament teams. "While we can talk about how they did against teams in the tournament, there are 10 other pieces of information that are going to be evaluated," said Hart. "We have 11 different pieces of information that we were evaluating and results against teams in the tournament was only one." F&M was 17-5 in its region.

Meanwhile, the women's tournament selections went almost entirely as we expected, as 13 of the 14 at-large bids (Pool B and Pool C) went as projected.

OSHKOSH, Wis. – If any one game epitomizes the competitiveness of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, this would be it.

The No. 1 and No. 3 seed, conference co-champions, battling to the last second for a championship.

Junior forward Tim Dworak saved the day for the Titans, sinking a perfect 3-pointer from the low corner with two seconds left to give UW-Oshkosh a thrilling 70-69 victory over UW-Whitewater in the WIAC Tournament championship game in front of 1,578 boisterous fans at Kolf Sports Center Saturday night.

Jake Wolter hit a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left to put the Warhawks up, 69-67 and the Titans brought the ball down the court.

But it wasn't Dworak who was originally slated to wear the net around his shoulders; it was supposed to be junior Scott Sowinski.

Not finding an open shot, Sowinski called for a timeout with 3.6 seconds left. Before the clock could start again, Whitewater called a timeout to double-check its defensive preparation.

Once play resumed Sowinski took the inbounds and proceeded to the basket, but he stumbled, lobbing the ball to a wide-open Dworak in the corner. Dworak flicked the wrist, the buzzer sounded and the Titans — and their fans — mobbed the court.

"We drew up a play for Scotty to dribble-penetrate his guy and he fell down, getting the ball to me for the open shot," Dworak said. "Just felt like a good shot coming off my hand."

Head coach Ted Van Dellen wasn't worried when Sowinski fell, knowing they had an alternative.

"When we called the time out," Van Dellen said. "The guys said let's go for the win. I said let's get them in overtime."

"But we had an option when Scotty fell, and when you see Tim flick his wrist like that," Van Dellen said. "You know it's going in."

The Titans had led most of the game, enjoying leads of seven and eight points in the first half before heading into halftime up by three, 38-35.

UW-Whitewater made a run at the Titans in the second half bolstered by 12 points from Aubrey Lewis-Beyers.

Wolter's 3-pointer at the 1:55 mark put the Warhawks up by two, at 65-63. It was the first time since 19:39 in the first half that UW-Whitewater had a lead.

The Titans tied the game twice more in that stretch, each time on a pair of free throws by Sowinski, but Wolter's free throws looked to be the nail in the coffin for UW-Oshkosh.

"That's just a great team," UW-Whitewater head coach Pat Miller said. "You have to give Oshkosh a lot of credit. They're a tough team, but I thought we would match up well with them."

The victory puts the Titans in the NCAA Divison III Tournament for the first time in five seasons, and caps off one of the most successful campaigns in the program's 108-year history.

Dwoark's 3-pointer capped off a 24-point night, while Sowinski finished with 19, in addition to six assists. Lewis-Beyers finished with 20 points for UW-Whitewater, London Donlow and Wolter added 16 and 14 points, respectively.

The Titans swept two regular-season meetings with the Warhawks. UW-Oshkosh shared the regular-season title with the Warhawks, who now, despite 21 wins, will have to sit and wait for a call from the NCAA selection committee.

LANCASTER, Pa. – Curtis McNeil hit the go-ahead free throw with 2.7 seconds left to lift Gettysburg over top-seeded and 16th-ranked Franklin & Marshall 50-47 in the Centennial Conference championship game on Saturday.

With the game tied at 47 in the closing seconds, McNeil (left) was fouled by Diplomat center Steve Juskin on a hard drive to the basket and hit the second of two foul shots to give the Bullets (20-6) their second consecutive Centennial championship and make Gettysburg the first back-to-back champions in conference history.

Jim Natale's steal on the ensuing possession gave the ball back to the Bullets with 1.7 seconds left before McNeil drained both ends of a 1-and-1 situation to seal the victory. McNeil, who was held to a season-low five points in his regular-season visit to Lancaster, finished with a game-high 18 points this time around.

Kevin Boyle scored nine of his 11 points in the decisive second half for Gettysburg, which won for only the second time in its last 19 trips to Mayser Center. In addition, the Bullets set a single-season program record with their 20th win while handing Franklin & Marshall (22-5) its first home loss of 2001-02.
With the win, Gettysburg earned its second consecutive berth in the NCAA tournament.

F&M forward Alex Kraft, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds, had one last chance to send the game into overtime, but his desperation 3-pointer went wide at the final horn. Duran Searles scored a team-best 14 points for the Diplomats while Cas Thomas chipped in with 13 and a game-high eight rebounds.
In an atmosphere worthy of a conference championship game, the lead changed hands nine times in the second half before McNeil and the Bullet defense came through in the clutch.

With Gettysburg trailing 27-23 early in the second half, Boyle scored seven points to fuel a 7-2 run that gave the Bullets a 32-27 lead. Following an F&M timeout, Searles answered with a 3-pointer and driving layup to put the Diplomats back on top 33-32 with 14:22 left.

Gettysburg pulled out to a 44-40 lead by holding the Diplomats scoreless for 6 minutes, 32 seconds.

David Glaser hit one of two free throws before Cody Bowers scored five quick points on a 3-pointer and cutting layup to make it 44-40 and force another F&M timeout.

Asaf Ganot knocked down a 3 off the stoppage and Thomas hit a short turnaround to give the Diplomats their last lead of the game at 45-44 with 3:43 left.

McNeil then drained the last of his three 3-pointers at the 2:46 mark to put the Bullets ahead 47-45. Following a number of empty possessions on both ends of the floor, McNeil missed the front end of a 1-and-1 situation with 39.6 seconds remaining and Searles struck again from the baseline with 16.7 ticks left to knot the game at 47.

As the final seconds ticked away, McNeil backed his dribble to the top of the offensive zone, then drove hard to the basket, drawing contact from Juskin and the opportunity to put his team ahead.

The senior captain, who entered the game as the CC's top free-throw shooter, rimmed out his first attempt, but converted the second for the championship-winning point.

Gettysburg senior Terence Callahan was held to just four points – 10 under his season average – but helped the cause with three assists, three steals and a season-high eight rebounds.

On Friday, the Hope men's basketball team picked up its first-ever MIAA Tournament victory at the Calvin Fieldhouse.

On Saturday night, the Flying Dutchmen picked up their second win at the Fieldhouse and with it, the 2002 MIAA Tournament title.

Using a 22-4 scoring run over the final 8:50 of regulation, Hope recorded a stunning 70--63 come-from-behind victory over rival Calvin in front of nearly 4,400 fans at the Calvin Fieldhouse Saturday night. The Hope victory snapped a six-game losing streak against Calvin and also allowed the Flying Dutchmen to capture the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The MIAA Tournament title is Hope's first since 1998 and its fourth in school history. Calvin was bidding for its third consecutive MIAA Tournament title and its sixth overall Saturday night but was denied by a Hope team that improved its record against Calvin in MIAA Tournament Championship tilts to 3-0.

Calvin ends its season at 20-7, having reached the 20-win plateau for the 13th time in school history while Hope improved to 20-6, reaching the 20-win plateau for the 12th time in school history.

Throughout much of the first half, Calvin threatened to run away with the game as the Knights jumped out to a 24-10 lead on the strength of a 15-2 scoring run. Calvin would then build its lead to 17 points at 38-21 on a jumper by junior Tony Westhouse with 1:52 remaining in the half. Hope would score the final six points of the half however, using a bucket by freshman Travis Spaman and back-to-back layups by junior Don Overbeek to close to within 38-27 at the break.

Hope then used the momentum to creep to within six points at 38-32 on another bucket by Overbeek and then drew to within four at 41-37 on an Overbeek basket at 16:00 mark.

Calvin responded with an 11-3 run capped off by a 3-pointer from the right wing by sophomore Chris Prins to take a 52-40 lead with 12:03 remaining. After Hope clawed to within six points at 52-46, Calvin used a pair of Prins free throws and a three-pointer from junior Rob Dytkstra to go up 57-46. A tip-in by junior Jeremy Veenstra moments later kept Calvin up by 11 at 59-48 with 9:19 left but the Flying Dutchmen would take the momentum from that point on.

A 3-pointer by senior Todd Bloemers allowed Hope to creep to within 59-56 with 6:01 to go and a basket by Overbeek with 3:27 left brought Hope to within 61-59. Calvin then missed a pair of free throw attempts and the Flying Dutchmen took advantage as junior Mike VanHekken drilled a 3-point shot from the left wing to give Hope just its second lead of the game at 62-61 with 2:58 remaining. Calvin would never regain the lead as the Knights missed on a 3-point attempt on its next possesion and Spaman followed with a layup to put Hope up 64-61.

A pair of free throws by Veenstra pulled Calvin to within a point at 64-63 with 2:07 left on the clock. After a defensive stop, the Knights had a chance to regain the lead but a trio of Calvin shot attempts by the Knights inside were off the mark with Overbeek swatting away two of the shots. Calvin still had possession of the ball when Immink scooted into the corner and collected a steal that led to Veenstra's fifth foul of the game and a pair of VanHekken free throws that put Hope up 66-63. Calvin had a chance to tie but missed on another three-point attempt with 55 seconds left. Hope then sealed the game with an acrobatic layup by Immink and a pair of free throws by Overbeek in the closing seconds.

All told, Calvin connected on just one of its final 13 field goal attempts while also hitting just 2-of-6 attempts at the free throw line in the final five minutes of play including two missed attempts on the front end of a pair of bonus situations.

Calvin was led in defeat by sophomore Kevin Broene who picked up 17 points while Veenstra had 11 points and nine rebounds and Dykstra 10 points and 12 rebounds. Veenstra extended his double-figure scoring streak to 45 games with his effort Saturday night. Hope was led by Overbeek who dropped in 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds with 19 of his points coming in the second half. Spaman was next with 14 points while junior Chad Carlson had 11.

Calvin finished with just a 33.9% field goal shooting clip including just 25.7 percent in the second half. Hope shot 46.4% overall including 50% (14-for-28) in the second half. Hope finished with 15 turnovers but committed just five in the second half.

Saturday night's game marked the 149th meeting between the two storied rivals. Calvin continues to lead the series 77-72. Hope's victory Saturday night also marked its first win at the Calvin Fieldhouse since an 87-85 overtime win in January of 1998.

SPINGFIELD, Ohio – It was a tale of two halves – and then came overtime.

When the dust had settled, Ohio Wesleyan had rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the No. 1 seed and host Wittenberg 81-75 in overtime to capture the NCAC's automatic NCAA Division III women's tournament berth.

In the first half, Wittenberg raced out to a double-digit lead and by halftime the Tigers had stretched their advantage to 45-29. The Tigers were dominating on the glass, outrebounding the taller, more experienced Bishops 25-18, including 11 offensive boards. But then came a furious second half rally by OWU, the defending champion and second seed in this year's competition. OWU took the lead for the first time since early in the game at 62-61 on a short jumper by Kelly Heil at the 4:02 mark of the second half.

With the momentum on the other side, the Tigers finally fought back but still trailed by three points with six seconds left in the game. That's when Tiger guard Stephanie Campbell drove the length of the court and buried a game-tying 3-pointer just before the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

In the extra session, Ohio Wesleyan continued to pound the ball inside as it had done throughout the second half and took control. Wittenberg took an early 3-point lead on a long jumper by freshman Emilie Schmid, but OWU's post play was just too much. Tournament Most Outstanding Player Tiffany Barbee had five points in the overtime, while Mindy Hammond hit for six huge points in the extra session. Barbee finished the game with 22 points and 13 rebounds in 35 minutes off the bench, and she was joined in double figures scoring by Michelle Wolfe with 17 points, Katy Sturtz with 12 and Hammond and Heil with 10 each.

Wittenberg was paced by junior guard Kate Rolf, who finished with 21 points. Also reaching double figures were junior guard Stephanie Campbell with 13 points and junior forward Tiffany Keller with 11.

POMONA, N.J. – William Paterson won for the 12th time in 13 games, defeating Richard Stockton 55-49 to win its third consecutive NJAC championship. It was their sixth consecutive win overall and snapped Stockton's eight-game winning streak. Khalid Coursey led William Paterson with 15 points while Rashaan Barner added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. James Spell scored 16 points for Stockton followed by Conrad Burnside with 12 markers and Dave Graham with 10 points. Stockton shot just 7-for-24 (29.2%) from the free-throw line in the six-point loss.

The first half proved to be a defensive struggle with William Paterson equaling its biggest lead with a 19-15 margin at the break. The Pioneers took the lead at 23-22 with 16:43 left in the second half and Stockton would not lead again. The Ospreys rallied to knot the game 34-34 with 7:28 on the clock, however William Paterson responded with five straight points for a 39-34 lead. The Pioneers went 8-for-9 from the line in the final minute to seal the win.

ANDERSON, Ind. – Anderson sophomore Angel Hall connected on a 17-foot jumper as time expired Saturday to give the Ravens a 62-60 win over Defiance and the HCAC Championship. With the win, the Ravens (21-6) also guaranteed themselves a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Defiance's Michelle Bauer drove the lane and converted a layup with just seven seconds remaining to tie the score at 60. Without calling timeout, Hall took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the floor before hitting the game-winner from the left elbow.

Anderson trailed by six points at halftime due to a poor shooting performance (34%) in the first half. Defiance capitalized and won the battle of the boards 36-27, but was unable to put the Ravens away.

Hall finished with a game-high 22 points on 8 of 18 shooting. She knocked down four of 11 3-point attempts and collected five rebounds and four assists.

Senior Rachel Miller battled foul trouble all afternoon and had to play the final ten minutes with four fouls. However, she was able to avoid her fifth foul and helped keep the Ravens close as they trailed for nearly the entire ballgame. Miller finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.

Defiance (21-6) was led by the strong play of Mandy Eberle and Veronica Sharp. Eberle finished with a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds. Sharp added 12 points and five assists.

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Karissa Kramer scored 16 points, 14 in the second half, and Beth Freeman added a career-high 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting as No. 25 Carleton beat No. 12 St. Benedict 79-63 for its second consecutive MIAC tournament title and automatic bid.

The Knights (23-5) shot 53% (32 of 61) for the game and 64% (18 of 28) in the second half, outscoring the Blazers (23-4) 45-28 in the final 20 minutes. Carleton set a school record for wins in a season. Bethany Koehler added 15 points, including a trio of 3-point baskets.

Michelle Barlau paced the Blazers with 16 points. Danni Hannon added 14 points while Kim Johnson tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.

Carleton closed the first half with a 9-2 run, capped by Kramer's buzzer-beating layup (pictured). Carleton opened the second 20 minutes with a 10-2 spurt as the Blazers went without a field goal for the final three minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.

"I think it was really big," Carleton head coach Tammy Metalf-Filzen said about the final three minutes of the first half. "We just went in [to the locker room] with confidence. We didn't feel like we played all that well in the first half. Offensively, we stood around and defensively we didn't get out on the shooter the way we wanted. Having that run made a big difference for us."

Trailing by seven, the Blazers got jumpers from Barlau and Ashley Brown to crawl within three. Koehler drilled a 3-pointer from the corner, Karen Fricke powered in a layup and Koehler drained another three from the top of the key and Carleton led 56-45. The Knights maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way in cruising to their fourth straight win and 14th in their last 16 games.

Metcalf-Filzen pointed to a few half-time adjustments her team made as key to the victory. "One, we had to get out on their shooters and make them put it on the floor," she said. "Two, we had to attack inside and take advantage of being mobile inside. We really put the pressure on them and they tried to score from three and get the big buckets, but we stepped out on them and wouldn't let them do it."

Metcalf-Filzen and the Knights also felt that this year's title validated last year's, and hope that their NCAA Tournament experience will extend beyond one game this time. "It's easy for people to say that last year was a great run and a storybook season," Metcalf-Filzen said. "We weren't satisfied – we wanted to be back for a second season. We don't have the tradition that St. Thomas and St. Ben's has, but we're on our way."

WAUKESHA, Wis. – Lake Forest's Katie McCants scored a game-high 14 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds to lead Lake Forest to a 72-56 victory over Carroll in the championship game of the Midwest Conference Championship Tournament at Carroll.

The conference title is the third consecutive crown for Lake Forest, its fifth overall. The Foresters have defeated Carroll in each of the last three championship games.

Junior Corey Grosskopf led the Lady Pioneers with 10 points, while senior Michelle Fink chipped in with 8 points. Senior Sarah Letourneaux added seven points for Carroll and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.

“This was just a heartbreaking game,” said head coach Kris Jacobsen. “Things just didn't go our way, but it wasn't due to lack of effort. Lake Forest is an excellent team with an excellent coaching staff and they played very well today.”

Neither team shot the ball well, with both teams finishing the game under 36% shooting from the field. Lake Forest outscored Carroll 29-16 from the free-throw line and won the rebounding war 52-34.

Jacobsen was obviously disappointed with the result of today's game, but was quick to point out how proud she was of her 20-5 team. “I am so incredibly proud of this team,” she said. “This loss takes nothing away from what this team accomplished.”

Jacobsen also commented on her four seniors; Fink, Letourneaux, Carlyn Wilhelmi, and Jessica Koelbl. “They gave everything they had all four years. We are going to miss this classy group of leaders.”

DE PERE, Wis. – Using a sticky zone defense, Ripon College held No. 15 St. Norbert to 30% field goal shooting to upset the Green Knights 54-45 in the championship game of the Midwest Conference Tournament at Schuldes Sports Center. Ripon (19-6) clinches the MWC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament with the win, while St. Norbert (21-4) must wait to see if it will earn one of eight at-large bids to the 48-team field.

St. Norbert was forced to shoot early and often from the perimeter, and made just seven of 36 3-point attempts, despite open looks, for a frigid 19.4%. Matt Roherty and Phil Leiterman, who led St. Norbert in scoring at 13 and 11 points respectively, combined to make six of 25 3-pointers. The zone also prevented St. Norbert from getting to the free-throw line, as the Green Knights made just two of three attempts from the stripe.

Ripon led 21-13 in the second half but St. Norbert held the Red Hawks scoreless over the last 6 minutes, 43 seconds of the half to take a 22-21 lead on a Drew Demerath basket at the buzzer. The Green Knights would get their biggest lead of the second half at 27-25 at the 15:32 mark on a 3-pointer by Leiterman.

From there, Ripon went on a 13-4 run to take a seven-point lead at 38-31 with 7:23 remaning. St. Norbert went on a 6-0 mini-run to get to within one, but Ripon applied the knockout when Scott Landisch converted a conventional three-point play off an offensive rebound with 5:09 left. The Green Knights would not get closer than four points the rest of the way as the Red Hawks beat St. Norbert for the first time in three tries this season.

Ripon was led in scoring by Landisch, who had 13 points, while Josh Glocke added 12 points. The Red Hawks, which shot 37.7% from the floor, also held a 41-39 rebounding advantage thanks to Nick Johnson's 10 rebounds. Despite the poor shooting from both teams, it was a well-played game as each squad committed 12 turnovers.

St. Norbert had its school-record 16-game winning streak snapped, and currently sits with the same record as the 1984 team as the best in school history.

By Ted Newman
Rocky Mount Telegram
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The third-time jinx didn't affect North Carolina Wesleyan.

The Bishops met Christopher Newport for the third time this season Saturday in the championship of the Dixie Conference tournament. With a pair of close wins against CNU already under its belt, Wesleyan was facing the dreaded "hard to beat a good team three times" sports maxim.

And after 35 minutes of play, it looked like the No. 3-seeded Bishops wouldn't.

But Bradley Blue scored eight of his game-high 28 points to lead a 12-1 run to close the game as the Bishops rallied from a nine-point deficit to win 77-75 and capture their first conference tournament title since 1987.

"Everybody came out focused and wanted to win," said Blue, who was named the tournament's MVP. "We played with a lot of heart today."

The win gives Wesleyan the Dixie Conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament, its first appearance there since 1987 as well.

After building a 39-33 lead in the first half on the strength of 53% shooting, the Bishops could do little more than watch, it seemed, as CNU's Jermaine Woods erupted in the second half.

The junior guard drilled four 3-pointers in a four-minute span to key a 19-6 run that catapulted the Captains from a 49-43 hole to a 64-57 lead with 9:04 to go in the game.

"He just got hot," said NCWC coach John Thompson. "I don't think we could have defended him any better, he was making some difficult shots."

Woods, who finished with 21 points, picked up his third foul during the run and went to the bench with his fourth at the 7:06 mark and CNU holding a 65-59 lead.

Wesleyan stayed within six until Blake Brookman hit a 3-pointer with 5:10 on the clock that gave the Captains a 74-65 lead.

Then Blue took over.

He hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to six. That was followed by a Bobby Jenkins trey that cut the lead to three with 2:51 to go. Blue converted a pair off free throws to get the Bishops within one at the 2:30 mark, then knocked down his fourth three of the night with 1:43 on the clock for a 76-74 Wesleyan lead.

Jenkins, who hit five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points, added a free throw with 4.3 seconds left and CNU could not get a shot off in time.

Christopher Newport missed five shots in the last five minutes, and the Bishops (20-7) collected 11 rebounds – five of them offensive rebounds.

"This team continues to show the heart and character they have showed for a long time," Thompson said. "They just don't give up. CNU got hot and got on a roll, a lot of teams might have thought it was going to slip away. We just hung in there, made some big shots, made some big stops. Everybody on our team was involved."

Jenkins joined Blue on the all-tournament team, along with Shenandoah's Ronald Merriwether, Methodist's Demarkus Byrd, and CNU's Woods and Carlos Heard, who had 24 points to lead the Captains.

WORCESTER, Mass. – The Wheaton (Mass.) men knew it wasn't going to be easy to get to the NEWMAC title game, as the Lyons had to go through the top seed and No. 22-ranked Clark. However, the squad nevertheless captured a stunning 100-92 victory in Friday's semifinal round at Kneller Athletic Center.

Fifth-seed Wheaton will face second-seed Babson, a 72-56 winner over Springfield, for the right to represent the NEWMAC in the NCAA Tournament. With the win, the Lyons denied Clark the opportunity for its fourth title game appearance in a row. The Cougars, regular season champions for three years and tournament winners the last two seasons, fall to 20-5 overall.

Wheaton used a season-best 65.5% (19-for-29) from the floor in the opening half and shot 5-of-8 (.625) from behind the arc en route to a 46-39 lead at the intermission. The first seven minutes of the stanza featured four lead changes and four ties, but the Lyons took the lead for good at 20-18 off a Richard Henninger layup with 12:22 to play. That basket spearheaded a 14-5 run, which was capped by a Josean Vega 3-pointer at the 6:53 minute mark.

Clark refused to go away, as the Cougars knotted the game on three occasions before taking a 64-63 edge midway through the half, thanks to a 3 from sophomore Trevor Walker. Both teams then battled through three lead changes and three ties, with the latter coming at 71 points apiece with 6:55 to play. On Wheaton's next possession, senior Luke Gordon drained a 3-pointer at the 6:41 mark to give the Lyons the lead for good. Wheaton extended its lead to 85-75, its largest advantage of the contest, with 1:59 remaining.

The Cougars opted to foul the rest of the way, as the Lyons used clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to hold off any Clark surge. Senior forward Sam Ackah began a lengthy two-minute free throw marathon, knocking down a pair of freebies while leading Wheaton to an impressive 17-for-22 (77.3%) mark in that stretch alone. The Cougars would get no closer than four points the rest of the way, as the Lyons posted their second-highest point total of the season.

Wheaton posted a season-high with six players in double-digit scoring, led by Gordon's career-best 31 and outrebounded Clark 50-38. Sophomore forward Frankie Whall tallied 13 points, grabbed a team-high tying 10 boards and blocked three shots. Ackah scored 11 points and posted 10 rebounds in the contest, while freshman forward Mike Stanton added 15 points and seven boards. Lewis and Vega rounded out the double-figure scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

For Clark, junior Sean Fleming led the way with 24 points (8-for-15 FG). Senior Amos Anderson had 18 points (7-for-14 FG) and six rebounds, while sophomore Brent Kenneway added 10 points in the losing effort.

SALEM – Ten Division III men's and women's basketball players were named finalists for the Jostens Trophy, honoring the outstanding basketball player who exemplifies the Division III ideal of the well-rounded athlete through athletic and academic excellence as well as community service.

The women's finalists: Kendra Anderson, Hardin-Simmons; Kristen Channing, UW-Eau Claire; Jill Dewane, Lakeland; Heather Francoeur, Oglethorpe; Kari Groshek, UW-Stevens Point; Heather Kile, Swarthmore; Kate Lyren, Wellesley; Missy Pederson, St. Thomas; Haley Smith, Maryville (Tenn.); and Renee Willette, Carleton.

The men's finalists: Joe Corbett, Hobart; Jesse DuPerow, Marietta; Aaron Galletta, Union; Jesse Harris, Simpson; Ryan Hepp, Willamette; Adam Jones, Buena Vista; Mark Lesko, Muhlenberg; Colin Tabb, Trinity (Conn.); Rashad Williams, Brandeis; Kyle Williford, Bridgewater.

The honorees will be presented with their awards on March 14 in Salem.

CLEVELAND – The North Coast Athletic Conference announced Wednesday that the Oberlin men's basketball team would forfeit all nine of its wins for the 2001-2002 season, including a 56-49 win over Ohio Wesleyan last night in the NCAC tournament quarterfinals, for using an ineligible player. The Yeomen will be replaced by Ohio Wesleyan, which will advance to the conference semifinals Friday night at Wittenberg.

Oberlin athletic director Mike Muska would not identify the player, but said he had transferred in from another school.

"The former institution initially certified that he would be eligible at the next institution he would go to," Muska told the Associated Press. "They have subsequently said this morning that that was not the case. It would have been nice if that had been communicated three or four months ago."

EWING, N.J. – Kean junior center Jaquana Abdullah and sophomore guard Kellie Rice each poured in 20-plus points for the second time this week to lead their team to the 2002 NJAC Championship. Kean posted a 66-57 victory over defending NJAC champion New Jersey at Packer Hall on Friday night.

With the win, the Cougars earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Kean, the No. 2 seed, improves to 19-8 on the year and snapped TCNJ's 11-game win streak. The loss ends the top-seeded Lions' season at 19-8.

In a very tight first half, the game witnessed eight lead changes and five ties. The largest lead of the half was seven (23-16) and held by the Cougars at 5:59. In the last 5:59, TCNJ put together an 8-1 run to tie up the game at halftime, 24-24. The Lions were plagued by turnovers, making 13 to Kean's seven. TCNJ's sophomore center Adrienne Warner led the team with seven points, while sophomore forwards Laura Mala and Liz Martin each notched six points and four rebounds. The Cougars' Rice paced all scorers with 11, while Abdullah chipped in six and sophomore forward Shervon James led on the boards with six rebounds.

"Kellie stepped up unbelievably,'' said Cougars coach Michele Sharp. "I knew she had it in her. We were waiting all year for Abdullah to break out (and she did). This team just has tremendous talent."

Turnovers continued to hurt the Lions in the second half as they picked up 11 more and finished the game with 24. Kean capitalized on TCNJ's mistakes, netting 23 points off turnovers. After shooting 37.0% from the floor in the first half, the Lions made 13-of-26 in the second, but could not stop Kean's inside game as the Cougars tallied 26 points in the paint.

Martin collected her fourth double double of the season on 16 points and 10 rebounds to pace TCNJ, while junior guard Kristen McCandless and Warner each pitched in 13. Mala was scoreless in the first half and ended with six.

Rice had 22 points to lead Kean after notching 21 against Rutgers-Camden in the semifinals. Abdullah added 20 and grabbed 10 boards after having 20 and 15 versus Rutgers-Camden. James pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to pace Kean.

FREDERICK, Md. – Trailing by 16 points in the second half, Hood went on a punishing 45-13 run to rally past, then bury Chestnut Hill 64-48 to advance to the Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference championship game. Hood, the third seed in the tournament, hosts top seeded Notre Dame (Md.) on Saturday evening for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame advanced earlier in the evening by beating No. 5 seed Trinity (D.C.) 85-71.

Leading 24-15 at the half, Chestnut Hill (17-9) got three 3-pointers, two from sophomore guard Jackie Kirk, and extended its lead to 35-19 with 16:19 left. But the Griffins shot just 5-for-21 from the floor the rest of the way and sophomore guard Mandy Fischer (pictured) hit four consecutive 3-pointers down the stretch to give the Blazers their 20th win against six losses.

Fischer led all scorers with 20 points on 5-for-13 shooting from 3-point range. Melissa Kolb added 12, Mandy South 11 points and Roxanne Koppenhaver 11 points and 10 rebounds as Hood's starters averaged 37 minutes apiece. Danielle Allen had a game-high 13 rebounds.

Jackie Kirk led Chestnut Hill with 18 points while Jennifer Banks had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

ASTON, Pa. – Gary Goldman hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left to lift fourth-seeded Cabrini past homestanding Neumann in the PAC men's championship game 71-67 before a standing room-only crowd on Thursday night. The Cavaliers have now won eight of the first 10 PAC men's basketball titles and the last two in a row. Cabrini (17-11) advances to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Tournament MVP Brian Wood had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, while Tim Gordon added 13 points and Tim Maddox had 11 points.

Third-seeded Neumann (21-7) was led by Rahim Washington's game-high 22 points. Randy Maultsby and Solomon Harris had 11 points, while Omar Warthen had a game-high 12 rebounds for the Knights.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps defeated Whittier 84-52 and Pomona-Pitzer upset SCIAC co-leader Cal Lutheran 62-61 to give the Stags the outright conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. CMS and CLU had been tied for first entering the evening and would have required a tiebreaker playoff game Saturday night if both teams had won.

Claremont (21-4), which placed five scorers in double figures including 15 points from Christian Dundas, became the first team in SCIAC history to win 13 conference games. Their only conference loss was at Cal Lutheran 59-58 on Jan. 9.

UPPER MONTCLAIR, N.J. – Senior guard Khalid Coursey scored a game-high 28 points, including 16 in the first half as fourth-seeded and two-time defending champion William Paterson upset top-seeded Montclair State 66-42 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference men's semifinals at Panzer Gymnasium on Thursday.

William Paterson will face second-seeded Richard Stockton in the championship game in Pomona, N.J., on Saturday at 7 p.m. Richard Stockton defeated third-seeded Ramapo 74-68 this evening. Rashaan Barner added 10 points for the Pioneers (18-9), who will advance to their third consecutive NJAC title game. No team has won three NJAC championships in a row since the Pioneers from 1983-85.

Omar Boothe finished with 11 points for the Red Hawks (18-8), who suffered their worst loss of the season. Montclair State was hosting its first NJAC Tournament game since 1984.

Coursey got the Pioneers off to a flying start as he scored 13 of William Paterson's first 15 points, including three 3-pointers giving WPU a 15-6 lead with 12:31 to play. Montclair State would not get as close as 15 the rest of the way. Montclair State shot just 33% (9-for-27) from the field in the first half and committed 10 turnovers.

In the second half, Montclair trailed 44-20 with 16:44 before cutting the lead to 15 as Boothe hit a 3-pointer while Harold Williams, Michael Gluck and Joseph Thomas each scored baskets to make the score 44-29 with 11:51 to play. However, the Pioneers quickly pushed the lead back to 25 as Coursey scored seven points in a 14-4 run over the next five minutes.

SALEM, Mass. – The Framingham State men went on a 22-8 run over the final 11 minutes en route to a 61-59 upset victory over Fitchburg State on Thursday evening at Salem State's Twohig Gymnasium.

The No. 6 seed Rams, who held the No. 2 seed Falcons scoreless over the final 4:30, adavnce to the MASCAC postseason championship game for the first time in the 13-year history of the tournament. They face host and top seed Salem State, which defeated Bridgewater State 76-52. Salem advances to the conference championship game for the 13th time in 13 years.

Fitchburg (16-10) jumped out to a 51-39 with 10:55 in the contest. The Falcons were led by junior guard Issac Lane's 13 points and junior forward Joe Howell's 11 points and 15 rebounds. However, Framingham's Ralph Sully scored all eight of his points over the game's final 11 minutes, including a putback with 2:10 to play to cut Fitchburg's lead to 59-56.

After the Rams forced a stop on the ensuing possession, senior guard Tim O'Malley converted a three-point play to tie the contest at 59-59 with 1:15 remaining. The Rams' defense forced another missed shot with 58 seconds left. Then junior guard Jason Robbins found an open Porter Debow who scored the final two of his game-high 14 points with 36 seconds to go.

The Falcons would have two chances to tie or win in the final seconds, but Howell's attempted leaner and a Lane turnover with 1.8 seconds left sealed the victory for the underdog Rams.

Framingham, who trailed 35-30 at the half, received 10-point efforts from O'Malley, MASCAC Rookie of the Year Chris Feeney and forward Eric Taylor. The Rams were victorious despite being outrebounded 47-33.

The Falcons received 11 points from Chris DaCosta and nine points and 14 rebounds from Tahir Core. Core totalled 36 rebounds in two MASCAC tournament games.

HOLLAND, Mich. – The third time proved to be the charm for the sixth-ranked Hope women, which advanced to the championship game of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament after defeating Albion 55-46 Thursday before a capacity Dow Center crowd.

Hope lost two games the entire regular season but both were to Albion, most recently last Saturday 58-46.

The Flying Dutch (25-2) were not to be denied this time around. Hope raced to a 33-17 halftime lead and then withstood an Albion run that brought the Britons to within seven points, 51-44, with a minute left in the game.

Senior guard Becky Sutton played an all-around outstanding game scoring 13 points, dishing off five assists and gaining six steals.

Junior center Amanda Kerkstra, starting in her first game since suffering an early in January, made six of seven shots enroute to a 13-point performance. She also blocked four shots, had three steals and did not commit a turnover in 30 minutes of play.

Senior Laura Poppema grabbed 10 rebounds including nine off the defensive board.

The Flying Dutch committed only nine turnovers and finished with 12 steals off 19 Albion turnovers.

YORK, Pa. – York failed to take advantage of a one-game suspension of Marymount's Dallas Crawley and fell in the Capital Athletic Conference men's semifinals 103-100.

With Crawley on the sidelines for throwing a punch in the conference quarterfinals against Salisbury, the Saints (19-8) jumped out to a seven-point lead just four minutes into the game.

York was down 14-5 with 15:45 left in the first half before they put together a run to climb back into the contest. Tim Hawken started an 11-2 spurt to bring the green and white even with the Saints. Hawken hit for six points in the run and Seth McLane went in for a layup and then sunk the foul shot after he was fouled by the Saints.

Steve Schmehl scored with 13:23 left to even the score at 16-16. The teams exchanged leads for the next seven minutes before Marymount took control of the game. Alex Bernstein scored six points in the final two minutes, but the Spartans were unable to overcome Devin Archie's 11 points in the last 5:45 to help the Saints take a 51-48 lead into the locker room.

The second half saw Marymount extend their lead as they came out shooting well. Bernstein hit a 3-pointer less than a minute into the half to even the score at 53-53, but again, the Saints seized control of the momentum. Terry Hoffman hit a layup followed by a trey from Carlton Phelps to give the Saints a five-point advantage.

With 14:53 remaining, the Spartans faced a nine point deficit on the heels of another Hoffman basket. York's comeback started with three consecutive 3-pointers. John Ely hit two in a row followed by an Andy O'Brien trey to narrow the deficit margin to two points with 13:21 left to play. Jason Hunt hit a jumper to tie the game at 71-71. Schmehl went in for a lay-up and Ely hit a clutch trey to give York a 79-78 advantage, their first lead since 9:53 of the first half.

Archie, the nemesis of the Spartans the entire game, hit six points to give the Saints an 87-83 lead with 6:53 left. The Spartans, however, refused to go away. Hawken hit a three sandwiched between two Bernstein trey's to give York a five point advantage. O'Brien hit two baskets to give York a 96-92 lead with 2:33 remaining. Marymount refused to go away, and McCoy scored followed by Hoffman's two free-throws and a shot from behind the arc to take a three point lead with 0:39 left in the game.

Bernstein scored with 16 seconds left to cut the Marymount lead to 99-98. Phelps scored a back-breaking basket with 0:12 left as he beat the Sapratns with a long inbounds pass. Ely was called for an intentional foul, and on the ensuing foul shots, Phelps hit both to essentially end the game and York's season.

Bernstein led the Spartan scorers with 21 points. He was 8-for-13 from the floor and grabbed three rebounds while hitting three of six shots from 3-point range. Ely scored 19 points, hitting five of nine from behind the arc. Schmehl had a great game, hitting eight of 15 from the field for 18 points. He also had a team high eight rebounds. O'Brien added 14 points, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out six assists, and blocking two shots. Hawken rounded out the scorers in double figures, scoring 13 points and grabbing four rebounds. As a team, York shot 51.9% from the floor, 35.3% from 3-point range, and 72.7% from the free-throw line.

Archie led all scorers with 32 points, shooting 11-for-23 from the floor. Phelps and Hoffman scored 20 points apiece and Kip McCoy added 16. As a team, the Saints shot 52.1% from the field, 26.1% from behind the arc, and 95.5% from the free throw line after shooting 61% from the charity stripe the rest of the season.

The Spartans, with six seniors, end the season with a 21-6 record, the best in school history. Marymount advances to the CAC championship game, at Catholic at 4 p.m. Saturday.

ST. PAUL – Senior forward Renee Willette had 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals and third-seeded Carleton built a 19-point first-half lead and held on for a 71-62 victory at second-seeded St. Thomas in an MIAC women's semifinal game Wednesday night in Schoenecker Arena.

The Knights (22-5) advance to Saturday's championship game vs. St. Ben's (23-3), a 60-58 overtime winner over Gustavus.

Missy Pederson scored a career-high 36 points and had four steals for the Tommies (21-5), including five 3-point baskets. Alissa Case had 10 points and five rebounds for UST.

Carleton avenged a 77-64 loss to St. Thomas on the same floor seven days earlier. Willette had seven points during a 15-1 run that built a 36-17 lead, and they led 40-24 at halftime. The Tommies pulled within 62-55 with 4:16 to play but never got closer.

Carleton shot 60% from the field in the first half and finished 51% on the night (29-of-57). They outrebounded the Tommies 40-31.

For the Knights, Bethany Koehler had 15 points and four assists; Karissa Kramer added 10 points; Karen Fricke had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting; and Linnea Engel had nine points and four assists.

Tommie freshmen Kristi Huegel and Vel Williams combined for 36 points in last week's win over Carleton but were held to a combined nine points.

The Tommies' streak of consecutive NCAA playoff appearances, now at 15, is
now in jeopardy. The NCAA Division III field will be announced Sunday night, and will be posted here as soon as available, shortly after 9:30 EST (men shortly after 9:00). Full men's and women's conference tournament results.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – In a hard fought defensive battle visiting Western Maryland held on to upset No. 17 Muhlenberg 53-52 in the Centennial Conference semifinals. Neither team could find any offensive rhythm and had to work for every point as WMC connected on only 39.7% from the field and the Mules hit on only 27% of their attempts.

A foul shot by Kelly Cramp made the game 53-50 with 1:40 remaining. The teams would trade empty possessions until 16 seconds remained. Susan Marchiano knocked down a jumper to cut the Terror lead to one. The Mules (21-4) applied a press and came away with a steal with seven seconds left. Out of timeouts, howveer, they were unable to get the ball up court and time expired giving WMC the victory.

Jen Piccolomini spearheaded the Terror attack scoring 15 points Cramp followed suit dropping in 14 points. Sophomore point guard Toby McIntire continued her spirited play scoring eight points and ripping down a game-high nine rebounds.

The Green Terror (21-6), after reaching the conference tournament via a play-in game, will host the conference championship game Saturday against Swarthmore, which knocked off West Division top seed Franklin & Marshall.

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Until the final minute, one could have said that Elizabethtown point guard Rocky Parise was having an off night in the Blue Jays' MAC Commonwealth semifinal game against Susquehanna. Parise, who is fifth in the nation with 6.7 assists per game, had just four assists, two points and no steals until, with 59 seconds to go, he stole the ball from Susquehanna's Chris Zimmerman.

Susquehanna, which was leading 77-76 at the time in its improbable upset bid, pressured the rest of Etown's offense while leaving Parise, who was 0-for-7 from three-point range at that point, wide open. Parise responded by sinking a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to go that proved to be the anvil that broke the camel's back for Susquehanna. Etown went on to win the game 80-77, with the final point scored on a foul shot by none other than Parise with nine seconds left.

With the win, top-seeded Elizabethtown advances to host the MAC Commonwealth championship game on Saturday against second-seeded and defending conference champion Widener, which defeated Lebanon Valley in the night's other playoff game 77-61. The Blue Jays improve to 24-2 overall with the win, while fourth-seeded Susquehanna sees its season end with a 14-12 overall mark.

Susquehanna carried a surprising 39-37 lead into halftime, and the Blue Jays did not regain the lead until Bob Porambo who led Elizabethtown with 24 points and nine rebounds, hit a layup with 13:09 remaining in the second half to take a 52-50 lead.

Etown fell behind again at 10: 39 when a Zigmas Kaknevicius umper gave the Crusaders a 56-54 lead. Etown again found itself on top with 6:42 to go when a Brian Loftus 3-pointer made the score 63-62. A Zimmerman jumper at 4:25 gave Susquehanna the lead again at 71-70.

A Porambo jumper at 2:05 caused the lead to change hands again, 76-75 in favor of the Blue Jays. Kaknevicius' layup at 1:17 gave Susquehanna its final lead of the game, 77-76, heading into the final minute when Parise took center stage.

Besides Porambo, other Etown players with big offensive nights included Loftus, who totaled 19 points and hit five out of seven 3-point attempts, and Brian Marquette, who came off the bench to score 13 points in 18 minutes on 5-for-8 shooting.

Nick Griffiths led Susquehanna with 24 points and six rebounds, and Zimmerman had 19 points and seven assists.

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster women closed the 2001-02 regular season on a strong note Feb. 20 at Buzz Ridl Gymnasium, as the Lady Titans improved to 14-11 with a 66-53 upset of No. 20 Case Western Reserve (18-6) in a non-conference game.

The two teams played a nip-and-tuck first half, with 10 lead changes and six ties. The Lady Spartans led by as many as six points (19-13 with 13:58 left) before a late Westminster push narrowed the CWRU lead to one point (30-29) at the half. Tied 36-36 with 16:01 to play, the Lady Titans took the lead for good on a layup by freshman forward Erica Tallo, which keyed an 11-0 run giving Westminster an 11-point lead (47-36) with 12:43 to play. The Lady Spartans never seriously threatened the rest of the way, as the Lady Titans held a double-digit lead until the final buzzer.

Two Lady Titans posted double-doubles in points and rebounds in the upset victory. Junior forward Samor Himes posted a game-high 17 points and hauled in 10 rebounds, while Tallo added 10 points and 10 boards. Senior guard Robin Thayer, playing in her final regular season game, scored 15 points in the win, while sophomore forward Alicia Anderson came off the bench to tie for team rebound honors with 10 caroms. Junior guard Ashley Kenney dished out a team-high four assists for WC. Jasmine Rowan led Case Western Reserve with 14 points.

The Lady Titan cagers have applied for a bid to the ECAC Division II playoffs. Westminster is not eligible to compete in the Presidents' Athletic Conference playoffs due to its continuing reclassification from NCAA Division II to Division III.

ST. PAUL – Ryan Gerry nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1.4 seconds left to lift Macalester (16-10) to an 83-82 MIAC tournament win Tuesday St. Paul over St. John's.

St. John's (15-11) closed out the first half with 11 unanswered points and started the second half on a 16-6 run to go up by 17 points at 57-40 with 13:59 to play. The Scots battled back, largely with 3-point shooting, and came to within a point at 79-78 on a Gerry 3-pointer with 1:10 to go. SJU's Shawn McGuire nailed a baseline jumper as the shot clock was winding down on the next Johnnie possession to put the visitors back up 81-78.

McGuire missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 15 ticks left and two Erik Jackson free throws with 8.8 seconds to go brought Mac to within a point at 81-79. Ryan Keating made one of two free throws less than a second later before Jackson dribbled quickly into the front court and dished it to Gerry (above) for the winning 3-pointer.

Gerry scored a season-high 20 points, going 6-for-11 on 3-pointers to pace Macalester. Ben Van Thorre added 19 points and three others reached double figures as well. Jackson had 14, Patrick Russell 12 and Adam Denny 10. Luke Witt was 5-for-6 on 3-pointers and led St. John's with 26 points. Mike Nester added 18 and Shawn McGuire had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Dusty Lamker scored 11 and Keating dished out 12 assists.

NEW YORK – Top seed Staten Island battled tooth and nail against fifth seed Baruch in a CUNY Athletic Conference men's semifinal and emerged victorious 66-64 when Champ Albano followed a missed CSI shot and hit a 10-foot jumper for the game winner at the Hunter College Sportsplex.

Staten Island will battle No. 2 seed Medgar Evers in the CUNY finals Friday night at 7:45.

Midway through the first half, the Dolphins assembled a 13-0 run that turned a 15-10 deficit into a 23-15 lead. After John Alesi hit a layup to cut the deficit to 27-26 with three seconds left in the half, he made the mistake of fouling CSI senior guard Champ Albano on a halfcourt heave as the buzzer sounded. He calmly sank all three free throws to give the Dolphins a 30-26 halftime lead.

It was a close battle the rest of the way as neither team managed to pull away. With the score tied at 62, Paul grabbed an offensive rebound and put one in off the glass to push CSI ahead 64-62 with 29 seconds remaining. Alesi came through once more with a short baseline jumper to knot the game at 64 with 15 ticks left.

"We just made some big shots," said 13th-year Dolphin head coach Tony Petosa, who saw his CSI career scoring mark of 1,635 fall to senior David Paul, who entered the game with identical scoring marks. Paul scored 19 for Staten Island on the night to push his career numbers to 1,654. "It's nice that he got it in a win, in a perfect world it would have happened in the finals."

Albano then rushed his jumper in traffic, missed, and put back his own rebound at 2.6 seconds to go for the game winner and a berth in CSI's second consecutive CUNY finale.

"It was just there today, I had to shoot and score," said Albano who had a game-high 24. "Our first two options (Paul & Nesbitt) were keyed on the whole day so they kicked it out to me. I never hit a game-winning shot before from CYO until now, it's a dream come true."

Alesi, who tallied 18 points for Baruch (18-9), missed a running three at the buzzer. Daniel Guilford and Shaun Applebaum added 12 points apiece.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – William Paterson held the New Jersey City men under 50 points in a game for the first time in two seasons as the Pioneers knocked off the Gothic Knights 60-44 in a New Jersey Athletic Conference play-in tiebreaker game at the Athletic and Fitness Center.

The win breaks a tie between the two rivals that met for last year's NJAC title, and lifts WPU (17-9) into the fourth seed in the NJAC tournament.

NJCU (16-10), which at the beginning of the month held a piece of first place in the league, is eliminated from NJAC contention and must wait to see if they receive a bid to the ECAC Tournament beginning Feb. 27. The Knights also fall to 9-3 at home.

The last time NJCU scored less than 50 in a game was a 62-42 home loss to Rutgers-Newark on Jan. 26, 2000. In that game, NJCU was without six players suspended from an altercation against Rowan the previous game. The opponent scoring low is a defensive best for the Pioneers this year. After starting the conference schedule at 0-4, WPU has won 10 of 11 to squeeze its way into the postseason. NJCU has lost six of their last nine.

The two teams traded six leads or ties in the first half. A 3-pointer by senior shooting guard Irv Jenkins gave the Knights what proved to be their final lead of the game at 22-20 with 2:04 remaining in the first period. The Pioneers ran off the final eight points of the half and owned a 28-22 advantage at the midway point.

In the second half, s enior guard Rashaan Barner sparked WPU to a run that gave them control for good. With the score 32-25 and 17:55 left, Barner hit a jumper and finished a three-point play for a 33-25. A layup by Barner at 17:10, followed by a jumper at 16:01, gave the visitors a 37-25 edge.

Leading 39-29 with 13:13 left, the Pioneers unleashed a 13-2 blitz to gain a 52-31 advantage. That 21-point margin matched their largest lead of the game.
Barner led all scorers with 21 points (10-for-15), including 12 in the first half. He grabbed seven rebounds. Senior center Dag Christensen had the second highest game total with 11 (4-for-7) and a game-best eight boards. Senior point guard Khalid Coursey had nine points (4-for-15), six rebounds, and game-highs with four assists and three steals. The Pioneers finished shooting 25-of-53 overall, and owned a commanding 38-25 disparity in rebounding, including 14 offensive grabs. They translated that into a 17-2 differential in second-chance points. They also outscored NJCU in the paint, 34-14.

Senior center Marcisco Morrison led the way in scoring for NJCU with nine (3-for-5) and also had a team-high five rebounds. Jenkins added eight before fouling out.

SALEM, Va. – Hampden-Sydney fired a warning shot across the bow of every team hoping for a Pool C bid as the third-seeded Tigers knocked off top seed Randolph-Macon 55-48 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship game Feb. 18 to win the conference title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Randolph-Macon, which had won the previous two meetings between the archrivals, is considered a near-lock for a Pool C bid at 23-5, 23-4 against Division III teams. Hampden-Sydney would have joined other teams on the bubble if they had lost.

The Tigers (22-5) got 13 points off the bench from Jeff Monroe and 11 from Brandon Randall as they won their fifth ODAC title since 1997.

"For the last couple weeks we've tried to emphasize as a team the little things – holding onto the ball, playing good defense; the things that make you successful in the game of basketball," head coach Tony Shaver said. I thought this weekend we did those things better."

The Yellow Jackets struggled from the field all game, shooting just 19.2% in the first stanza. They finished the game shooting 30.5% from the field and just 17.9% (5-for-28) from 3-point range.

"They are one of the best I've seen at running set plays. We wanted to disrupt them and take them out of the game and I feel that we did that tonight. I thought the zone was something that would disrupt them and we ended up playing it more than I anticipated," Shaver said.

Randolph-Macon reached the final by beating fourth-seeded Roanoke 71-63 in the ODAC semifinals, while Hampden-Sydney rallied to beat No. 7 seed Emory & Henry 105-95.

Jared Mills paced the Yellow Jackets with 18 points including a 6-for-11 performance from the field, including his 1000th career point. He also pulled down a game-high nine boards. Randolph-Macon, which struggled from the line two weeks ago in a loss at Virginia Wesleyan, shot 23-for-26 (88.5%) to keep the Maroons at bay. Check out conference tournament pairings for men and women as we continue the countdown to Selection Sunday.

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Johns Hopkins center Kathy Darling had her say all night, but it was her counterpart Kris Brust who delivered the final word giving Western Maryland a 70-68 victory in the Centennial Conference play-in game over Johns Hopkins.

At first half's end, Blue Jays star Darling was held to just five points. Western Maryland held a 38-28 lead and was hitting on all cylinders. However, the second half was a different story. A concerted effort was made to get the ball inside to Darling where she proved to be unstoppable one on one. This forced help from the perimeter, which allowed Blue Jay sharpshooter Ashley Shelper to get open looks. Shelper would knock down three 3-pointers on her way to scoring 16. This would give the Blue Jays the spark to battle back and take their largest lead of three points with 5:39 left in regulation.

The game would go back and forth until a timeout with 18 seconds set the stage for a heart-pounding finish. Toby McIntire took the ball strong to the basket but her shot bounced long. Kris Brust then ripped down the rebound and took the ball up hard and was hammered by Darling. With two seconds remaining Brust calmly steeped up to the free throw line and knocked down both shots sealing the victory.

Freshman Kelly Cramp led the Green Terror on offense with a team-high 15 points. Sophomore point guard Toby McIntire demonstrated her leadership netting 13 points and grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds. Jen Piccolomini was also a key factor netting 13 points and swiping four steals.

The Blue Jays placed four members in double figures led by Darling and Shelper with 22 and 16 points respectively. Ashley Felix dropped in 12 and Maureen Myers chipped in with 10.

The win improves the Green Terror to 20-6 and sends them to a Centennial Conference semifinal game at Muhlenberg. Johns Hopkins' season send at 19-7.

HOLLAND, Mich. – Albion has accomplished what no other team could so far this regular season. The Britons defeated Hope. Twice.

Albion (16-8, 7-7 MIAA) earned a regular season sweep over the No. 2-ranked Flying Dutch by posting a 58-46 victory before a crowd of 700 at the Dow Center on Saturday afternoon, after winning only four games last season.

The Britons shot 38% from the field (9-for-24) in the first half and took a 26-23 lead to the locker room.

The Britons seized control of the game with a 17-7 run to turn a 30-30 tie into a 47-37 Briton lead with 12:20 remaining. Junior guards Becky Campbell and Stacey Supanich scored the first nine points of the Briton rally. Campbell gave Albion the lead for good when she knocked down a jumper. Supanich followed with a basket, a three-point field goal, and a pair of free throws.

Hope was able to cut its deficit to 47-43 with just under 10 minutes left in the game when Amy Brower scored a basket. The Flying Dutch, however, would score just three points the rest of the game. Campbell, Supanich, and freshman guard Sarah Caskey led Albion's offense with 13 points apiece.

All three shot the ball well (Campbell was 5-for-10 from the field, Supanich was 4-for-8 from the field and 4-for-6 at the free throw line, and Caskey was 3-for-5 from the field and 6-for-7 at the line).

Hope (23-2, 12-2) did not have a player score in double figures. Amy Baltmanis was the high scorer for the Flying Dutch with eight points.

WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – The No. 6 Eastern Connecticut women shot better than 60% from the floor in the first half and rolled to a 75-56 Little East Conference win against No. 3 Southern Maine on Saturday at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.

Eastern (24-1, 13-1) and Southern Maine (23-2, 13-1) finish tied for the LEC regular-season championship for the second consecutive year. It is the fourth title for Eastern and the 14th for Southern Maine in the 16-year history of the conference. Southern Maine, which had a 20-game winning streak snapped, will host the tournament semifinals and final this Friday and Saturday at Gorham, Maine. As the top two seeds, ECSU and Southern Maine earn first-round tournament byes.

Sophomore All-America forward Allison Coleman hit 10 of 14 field goals and finished with 21 first-half points for Eastern, which shot 60.6% from the floor en route to a 14-point, 45-31 halftime lead. The win is the 13th in a row for Eastern. The Warriors' only loss came by two points (61-59) at Southern Maine on Jan. 12. The 13 conference wins are also the most by an ECSU women's basketball team.

Coleman finished with 23 points, senior forward Joanna Debicki adding 19 points – hitting half of her ten three-point tries. Senior post player Kristyn Grassi and sophomore guard Kathleen Burdelski had 12 each. Senior guard Darcy Mund handed out seven assists. Debicki had a game-high 10 rebounds to help the Warriors to a 47-34 advantage on the boards.

Sophomore guard Megan Cressler led Southern Maine with 12 points and eight rebounds while senior guard Niki Dominiczak added eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals while playing all 40 minutes.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season championship, the No. 1 seed in the OAC tournament, Capital's 16-game win streak and crosstown bragging rights on the line, Otterbein marched into the Capital Center and came away with a 70-67 victory in front of a standing-room only crowd of over 2,600.

No. 8-ranked Otterbein took its first lead of the game four minutes into the contest and never trailed again. No. 13 Capital, however, refused to go away.

The Cardinals (22-3, 15-3 OAC) led 17-15 at the 8:21 mark when they started a 9-2 run that pushed the lead to nine, 26-17. The teams traded baskets over the final three minutes of the half before a pivotal sequence in the final minute. Otterbein's Kevin Shay hit a jumper to push the Cardinal lead to 10, then stole the inbounds pass from CU's Geron Tate and converted the layin to push the margin to 40-28. Capital's Tyler Schleich buried a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to provide the nine-point halftime difference, 40-31.

A heart-stopping second half saw the Cardinals and Crusaders (21-4, 14-4) answer each other blow for blow. A quick 7-0 run gave Otterbein an 11-point edge, the largest lead of the afternoon, with 5:32 remaining. Capital fought back with an 8-0 run of their own, cutting the deficit to three, 63-60, with 2:29 left.

The final minute provided the greatest drama of the contest. Otterbein's Jeff Gibbs was whistled for his fourth foul with 38 seconds remaining, and Tate converted both free throws to cut the lead to 66-64. On the other end, Otterbein's Tony Borghese missed the front end of a 1-and-1 opportunity. After calling a timeout, Tate drove the lane for an apparent tying layin, but Otterbein's Robert Mock came out of nowhere to reject the shot. Shay converted two free throws to stretch the OC lead to 68-64 with 16 seconds remaining, and the Otterbein fans began to celebrate.

Capital, however, was not dead yet. Tate was fouled on a 3-point attempt with five seconds left, and hit all three free throws to cut the lead to a single point. Borghese returned to the line for the Cardinals, and this time made both shots to extend the lead to three. A desperation three by Tate was no good, and the Otterbein students stormed the court.

Preseason All-American Gibbs paced the Cardinals with 27 points and 17 rebounds. He was 8-for-10 from the floor and 11-for-14 at the line. The performance was his 24th double-double in as many games. Also in double figures for Otterbein were Borghese with 15, Shay with 13 and Scott Hadley with 11.

Capital placed three players in double figures: Tate with 19, Schleich with 16 and Chuck Bihn with 11.

GRANTHAM, Pa. – The playoff picture for the Lebanon Valley women became crystal clear Saturday as freshman Crystal Gibson drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to stun No. 8 Messiah 50-47. With the win, the Valley clinched the MAC Commonwealth regular season title and homecourt advantage throughout the league playoffs. The win was also the 16th in a row for the Dutch, a streak which includes a 59-47 win against then-No. 9 Messiah on Jan. 19.

In the loud Falcon's den, Lebanon Valley (22-3, 13-1) battled point-for-point and found themselves up 43-42 when junior Stephanie Tighe nailed a 3-pointer with less than three minutes to play. She raised her fist coming down the floor and the pumped LVC defense stopped Messiah again as freshman Tamika Rogers blocked a shot by Christina Vouriotis to give the ball back to the Valley.

Two trips later, freshman Jennifer Northcott hit a 17-foot jump shot to give LVC a 45-42 lead with under a minute to play. On the other end, Melissa Ehst scored underneath to pull the Falcons within one.

Kristin Sassa then fouled Gibson on the ensuing trip up the floor. Gibson drained both free throws despite the crowd noise. The frenzy intensified when Melissa Ehst tied the game at 47 with 20 seconds showing.

After a LVC timeout with 12.6 on the clock, Stephanie Tighe inbounded the ball to Gibson, who then found Northcott along the right side. Northcott, double-teamed, kicked the rock to Gibson for the buzzer-beater.

Tighe finished with a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds. Gibson walked away with a smile and 11 points, five rebounds and two assists. Northcott was key with 11 rebounds and seven points.

Lebanon Valley led 25-21 at the break. LVC suffered 28 turnovers, but out-rebounded Messiah 42-28. Heidi Marks had 11 points for the Falcons, while Vouriotis and Ehst finished with seven points apiece.

The MAC Commonwealth playoffs begin next Wednesday, Feb. 20. Top seed LVC will host No. 4 seed Juniata. In the other bracket on Wednesday, No. 2 seeded Messiah (21-3, 12-2) will host Moravian.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Junior guard Catherine Elliot made all three free throws with 2.0 seconds left in the game to cap a 16-2 run and give York (Pa.) a 57-56 upset of No. 25 Marymount at Marymount's Verizon Sports Arena.

After sophomore forward Ashlee Courter hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key to give Marymount a 54-41 lead, York scored 13 unanswered points and tied the game on a Heather Kessler 3-pointer with 22.3 seconds left.

Kristin McGrory hit a pair of foul shots with 17.7 seconds left to give the Saints a 56-54 lead, but junior forward Jodie Knotts was called for her fifth foul as Elliot launched one from the left wing, sending Elliot to the line for the game-winning shots. A 35-foot heave fell short for Marymount (19-5, 11-2 Capital Athletic Conference) at the buzzer.

"If I'd want anyone on the line it's her because she's a gamer," said York head coach Betsy Witman. "She's very focused. I knew she'd make at least two and get us to overtime."

York (17-8, 11-3) took advantage of Marymount miscues during the run, as the Saints traveled, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and forced up a 3-pointer early in the shot clock that the Spartans corralled. The Saints were held to 6-for-30 shooting (20%) in the second half, 1-for-9 from 3-point range.

"We went back to man-to-man defense," said Witman, and York started its run when it spread the floor by going to a four-guard offense.

Two of those guards were Kessler and Elliot. "Kessler's a great player both offensively and defensively," said Witman. "She had (Marymount All-American guard) Candice Brown guarding her most of the game."

Kessler scored seven of her game-high 11 points during York's game-ending run, while the Spartans held Marymount's top scorers, Brown and Knotts, to six points combined in the second half. Each finished with a game-high 13.

BETHANY, W.Va. – Senior forward Keith Schubert (with ball) scored a season-high 43 points and in the process, surpassed the 2,000 point mark as Bethany rallied for a 96-91 overtime victory against visiting Grove City.

The win ended the Bison's regular season record at 18-7, tying the school wins record, and 7-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Grove City fell to 16-9, 4-4.

Andy Vlajkovich helped the Wolverines take as large as a nine-point lead at 69-60 with 5:14 to play. But Schubert scored 16 points in the final five minutes to help send the game to overtime. Schubert scored his 2,000th point on a layup with 1:09 left to bring the Bison within 80-77.

After a Bison foul, Grove City hit only one of two at the foul line. A layup by senior center Derek Hoffman made it an 81-79 game with 43 seconds left. The Wolverines would go 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final half minute but Schubert drained one triple and was fouled taking another with eight second to play. Trailing by three, the 6-4 forward calmly stepped to the line and buried all three to tie the game at 85.

In the extra session, Grove City scored the opening hoop but never led again. The Bison went on a 9-1 run to take control of the game. Grove City did get within three at 94-91 but Schubert iced the win with three free throws in the final 30 seconds for the win.

GLASSBORO, N.J. – New Jersey City had a chance to clinch a berth in next week's New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament with a victory on Saturday. But sophomore guard Tylee Thomas hit a running jumper with seconds remaining in regulation as Rowan spoiled NJCU's guaranteed spot in the tournament with a 78-76 win at Esby Gym. The loss, coupled with William Paterson's 65-54 win against Rutgers-Newark, forces a play-in game Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. in Jersey City. NJCU won the coin toss conducted at the conference office to determine who would host.

The intensely physical game included 43 fouls and four technical fouls. NJCU (16-9, 11-7) is 5-18 the last 20 years in Glassboro, including three playoff game losses.

Senior shooting guard Irv Jenkins led all scorers with 18 points and despite shooting 6-for-24, and 3-for-16 from long range, almost proved to be the hero when his 3 from the left arc tied the game at 76-76 with just 37 seconds on the clock before Thomas won it for Rowan.

NJCU grabbed a 13-10 first half lead on a Rafi Hargrove 3-pointer with 13:18 left, and after the Profs tied the game twice, Samar Battle hit a 3 with 6:38 remaining for a six-point, 31-25 edge. Rowan battled to tie it at 31-31. With 11 seconds left in the first half, George Thomas nailed a 3 for Rowan on a touch shot off an inbounds pass with one second on the shot clock, giving the Profs a 38-34 lead at the midway point.

Rowan led early in the second half before the Knights took a 41-40 lead on a Hargrove layup, and extended that lead to 43-40 on a steal and fast-break layup by Jenkins, making it 43-40 with 17:34 left. The Profs regained the lead when Bob Weir hit a 3 to make it 45-43 at 15:53. Then the game got physical, and on a tie up, officials called a technical foul on Jenkins. Two Weir free throws gave Rowan a 49-43 lead at 15:24.

With 11:07 left, and Rowan leading 54-47, the officials called a technical foul on Jose Martinez on a NJCU inbounds play, then called a subsequent technical on the Knight bench. Weir hit all four free throws to give the Profs a 58-47 lead. The 11-points was their largest advantage of the game.

Hargrove was fouled on a three at 10:12 and hit all three free throws to cut it to a six-point, 58-52 score. On the inbounds, sophomore center Joe Wendel was picked off by Hargrove. Wendel committed a hard foul, and was called for Rowan's first technical. Hargrove made both free throws to cut the lead to 58-55.

The Profs regained a 62-55 lead before two George Thomas buckets, followed by layups by Martinez and Battle shaved the margin to 64-63 with 6:35 remaining. Over the final six minutes, the two teams traded baskets with Rowan gaining a four-point edge on just two occasions, including a 72-68 score with 4:16 on the clock. Martinez, who scored four points and had seven rebounds, trimmed the lead to 72-71 on an offensive grab and layup with 3:15 to go. Chris Young made a lay-up for Rowan to regain a 74-71 advantage, before a Battle jumper with 2:06 remaining made it 74-73. A pair of Tylee Thomas free throws gave Rowan a 76-73 lead with 47 seconds left before Jenkins tied it.

Jenkins added four steals for NJCU, as Rowan committed 21 turnovers, giving NJCU a 31-15 advantage in points off turnovers. Battle, a sophomore power forward, was banged around all day, yet finished with 15 points (6-for-19), and game high 11 rebounds (six defensive), and three blocks. George Thomas also had 15 points (6-for-12). Hargrove had 12 points (3-for-6, 5-for-5 on free throws), and five assists.

Tylee Thomas had 13 for Rowan, despite going 3-for-11 from the floor. He did hit all six free throws he attempted. Junior guard Chris Arnold had 14 (6-for-11), while Weir added 11, including 6-of-6 from the line. Young had 10 points and 10 boards.

Rowan shot 40.9% overall (27-for-66), and outrebounded the Knights 54-47. NJCU was 33.3% from the field (27-for-81). Each team scored 34 points in the paint. The Profs held the advantage in bench scoring, 38-12.

NEWBERG, Ore. – Dana Bielec's backdoor layup with 2.7 seconds left gave Whitworth a hard-fought 69-67 win against George Fox, breaking a deadlock for second place and giving the Pirates the home-court advantage for the Northwest Conference women's basketball tournament semifinal at the Wheeler Sports Center.

With the win, Whitworth finishes the regular season at 17-8 overall and 12-4 in league play, two games behind conference champion Pacific Lutheran. George Fox drops to 20-5 overall and 11-5 in the conference, into a tie for third with Puget Sound, a 60-58 winner over Willamette. However, the Bruins have the tiebreaker by virtue of splitting with UPS and PLU, while UPS lost twice to the Lutes. The loss is George Fox's third in four games.

Whitworth jumped on top 4-0 to start the game on a basket by Chrissy Oneal and two free throws by Tiffany Speer, but with Darby Cave scoring 9 points on four buckets and a free throw, the Bruins went on a 15-6 run to take the largest lead of the half, 15-10, with 14:15 left. The rest of the period was a nip-and-tuck affair, with seven ties and five lead changes. Erica Ewart's jumper broke the last tie with 1:19 left and gave the Pirates a 36-34 halftime advantage.

Speer and Sarah Shogren had 9 points each to lead the Pirates in the half, while Cave had 12 and Heather Doud 10 for the Bruins.

The second half was just as close, the biggest lead either team holding being a six-point advantage for the Bruins, 59-53, with 7:03 left after a layup by Cave. But the Pirates refused to quit, and Oneal scored back-to-back layups at 1:39 and 0:41 to give Whitworth a 67-66 lead.

Nicole Prazeau hit the first of two free throws with 0:27 left to tie it, but the Pirates rebounded the miss, brought the ball down, and called a time out with 0:14 left. The Pirates then worked the ball into the right corner where the Bruins swarmed in, but Bielec was left alone under the basket and made an easy layup for the winner.

George Fox worked the ball down quickly and got it to Prazeau for a clear 15-foot jumper on the right baseline, but the potential tying shot went in and out as the horn sounded.

Speer and Oneal scored 17 to lead the Pirates, Shogren added 12, and Ewart chipped in with 10. Speer, Oneal, and Shogren all grabbed 10 rebounds apiece as the Bruins were outrebounded by the widest margin all season, 49-37. Ewart handed out 8 assists. The Pirates also helped themselves at the line, hitting 17 of 21 (81.0%) while the Bruins cashed in only 14 of 24 (58.3%).

Cave paced the Bruins with 17 points, Doud added 14, and Prazeau tallied 12. Cave had 8 rebounds to top the Bruins on the boards.

EMORY, Va. – The Emory & Henry women picked up a record-setting 21st win on Saturday as they knocked off ODAC leader Guilford in a big way, beating the Quakers 77-53 on Senior Day.

Wasp seniors Jenny Gibson and Kelly Smith (left) each recorded double-doubles on the day, as the two finished their King Center careers by scoring 11 and 26 points respectively, and by pulling down 12 rebounds each.

The win, the team's 21st win this season and their 13th in a row, broke Guilford's 13 game winning streak and accounted for Emory & Henry's first 21-win basketball season.

The Wasps (21-4) have won 19 of their last 20 games heading into the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament, which begins Thursday in Salem, Va.

The Ithaca men and women swept visiting Alfred on Friday night to clinch both Empire 8 titles and qualify for the NCAA playoffs.

The women's team (19-3, 11-1 Empire 8), who beat Alfred 71-55, has won three consecutive conference titles and will be playing in the NCAA playoffs for the second year in a row. The women have won 13 of their last 14.

Junior point guard Kerri Brown led Ithaca with 18 points and five assists. Freshman guard Stephanie Cleary collected 13 points and five steals off the bench and sophomore guard Jennie Swatling added 11 points and four steals. Junior center Heather Savignano added a career-high 10 rebounds off the bench. Ithaca forced 21 Saxon turnovers.

The men's team held Alfred, who had been averaging a conference-leading 72.8 points per game, to 47 points and 31.2% from the floor. Junior guard Matt Riggins scored a game-high 13 points and added six rebounds. Junior forward Will Hill added 12 points and six rebounds and sophomore forward Tyler Schulz added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Schulz also held Alfred's E.J. Docteur, who had been averaging 17.3 points, to just four points, and none in the final 36 minutes. Ithaca will be making its first NCAA playoff appearance since 1993 and eighth overall. Ithaca's last conference title came in 1994.

There are just four playoff spots in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, and three of them are still up for grabs going into the final game for each team this weekend. Only Ramapo, at 12-5 in the league, has clinched a spot, with Richard Stockton, New Jersey City and Montclair State (11-6 apiece) and 2001 national runner-up William Paterson (10-7) jockeying for the final three.

Ramapo got its spot Wednesday night by defeating last-place Rutgers-Newark 80-62. William Paterson staved off elimination by beating Kean 62-52, and Richard Stockton defeated Rutgers-Camden 63-60. New Jersey City beat Montclair State 83-81 in overtime on a Samar Battle dunk with 1.4 seconds left, sweeping the season series and picking up a key tiebreaker.

Confused? Just wait. On Saturday, New Jersey City travels to Rowan, Ramapo visits Richard Stockton, Montclair hosts New Jersey, and Paterson is at Rutgers-Newark. If New Jersey City wins, they will clinch a playoff berth. If New Jersey City and Montclair State both lose and William Paterson wins, New Jersey City is the odd team out. If Monctlair wins, and New Jersey City and William Paterson both lose, the Pioneers are eliminated.

In fact, if Richard Stockton beats Ramapo at home and New Jersey City and Montclair State win, there would be a four-way tie for the top seed among all four playoff teams.

Hopefully coins won't be involved in seeding that tournament.

CLINTON, Miss. – Men's head coach Mike Jones fought back tears Thursday night as he was honored in a pregame ceremony before his final home game at Mississippi College.

More than 2,000 people came out to see the ceremony to honor MC's greatest basketball coach. Mississippi College interim president Lloyd Roberts said a few words in honor of coach Jones and the M-Club awarded him with a plaque recognizing his tremendous accomplishments at Mississippi College.

But as if that was not enough, his Choctaws (20-2) then went out and soundly beat Texas-Dallas in a game that was never in question and avenged an earlier loss this season to the Comets. The win capped off another 20-win season and puts the Choctaws in good position entering the ASC tournament next weekend ranked 2nd in the South Region.

The Choctaws were led by a balanced attack tonight as three players scored in double figures. Seniors Stacey Keyes and Justin Taylor each tallied 14 points while Karlos Fairley added 12 points and five boards.

The Choctaws came out of the gate quickly and led 24-12 with ten minutes to go in the first half. Fairley scored ten of his 12 points in the first half to lead the Chocs to a 40-25 halftime lead. MC shot 60% in the first half on 18-30 shooting.

The second half would be more of the same as the Choctaws put the game out of reach early. Keyes made a quick thre pointer to oppen the half and followed that with a three-point play on the next possession. With ten minutes to play the score was 60-35 and the comets would get no closer than 16 points. For the game the Chocs shot 57% from the floor to continue their hot shooting in the past few weeks. The Chocs also outrebounded the Comets 28-21.

The Comets were led in scoring by Eric Chatham with 15 points while Brian Thomas scored ten points. The loss drops UT-D to 13-11 on the season.

The win for Coach Jones improves his coaching record at A.E. Wood Coliseum to 164-18. The Choctaws have won 78 of the last 82 ballgames in the Golden Dome.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Faced with the possibility of falling out of the MIAA title hunt, Calvin delivered one of its most passionate defensive performances and in the process, the Knights put themselves right back into the league championship picture.

Fueled by a swarming defensive effort, Calvin (18-6 overall) came up with a 78-64 victory over rival Hope Wednesday night in front of a sellout crowd of 4,500 fans at the Calvin Fieldhouse. The victory was Calvin's sixth in a row over Hope and it allowed the Knights to move back into a tie for first place in the MIAA standings with the Flying Dutchmen at 8-3 in league play.

Both teams will close out their MIAA regular season campaigns on the road Saturday afternoon as Calvin travels to Alma and Hope journeys to Albion. Calvin can clinch a share of the MIAA title with a win at Alma Saturday and along with it, the top seed for next week's MIAA Tournament. For Hope to gain the top seed of the MIAA Tournament, the Flying Dutchmen need a victory over Albion and a Calvin loss to Alma. Should Calvin and Hope both lose Saturday, a three-way tie for the MIAA regular season championship will be created between Calvin, Hope and Kalamazoo. Kalamazoo finished its MIAA regular season at 8-4 with an 86-67 win over Olivet. In the event of a three-way tie for the league crown, Calvin would still own the overall tie-breaker edge and would gain the top seed for the MIAA Tournament.

Holding a 17-16 advantage with 10:58 remaining in the first half, Calvin broke loose on offense, reeling off an 18-4 scoring run to build a 35-20 lead with 6:07 left in the half. Sophomore Chris Prins sparked the Knight outburst with eight points and a steal in the scoring stretch. Hope (17-7 overall) fought back to within single digits as freshman Greg Immink connected on a 3-pointer at the 2:16 to close the score to 42-33. After a Calvin timeout at the 1:58 mark, Prins broke free in the corner and tossed in a 3-pointer to put the Knights up 45-33. Calvin junior Rob Dykstra then added a free throw and Immink converted on a layup to leave the score at 46-35 at intermission.

Hope shot 48% in the first half including 62.5% (5-for-8) from 3-point range but the Flying Dutchmen were plagued by 10 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes that led to 15 Calvin points.

In the second half, Calvin used a hanging jumper in the lane by sophomore Josh
Berghuis to go up 52-39 with 14:10 left on the clock. Calvin would then go scoreless over the next three minutes but would hold Hope to just one field goal defensively to maintain a double-digit lead. Junior forward Jeremy Veenstra then broke the Calvin scoring drought with a steal and subsequent three-point play to give the Knights a 55-41 lead.

Trailing 66-55 with 4:40 to go Hope went on a mini 6-2 scoring run with Immink converting a jumper and junior center Don Overbeek nailing a shot in the paint and adding two free throws a few moments later to allow the Flying Dutchmen to creep to within 68-61 with 3:41 remaining. Veenstra was able to help quell
the Hope comeback however as his putback off a missed Calvin shot put the Knights up 70-61. After a Hope free throw Calvin senior Jon Potvin followed with a floating runner in the lane to put the Knights up 72-62.

Calvin would then convert six of eight free throw attempts in the final 1:33 of play to close out the win.

Calvin was led in scoring by Prins who collected 20 points and five rebounds, finishing just three points short of a career scoring high. Veenstra was next with 16 points and 11 rebounds to notch his 22nd career double-double and extend his double-figure scoring streak to 42 games. Dykstra was also superb, scoring 11 points and snaring nine rebounds while also picking up three assists and a steal. Hope was led in scoring by junior guard Chad Carlso who chalked up 16 points but just two in the second half. Junior Mike VanHekken was next for Hope with 14 points while Overbeek recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Immink picked up 11 points, four steals and three assists off the bench.

Calvin finished the game with a 41.7% field goal clip and went 21-for-29 (72.4%) at the charity stripe. Hope shot 41.1% overall but just 34.5% in the second half. Hope did outrebound Calvin 38-37 but the Flying Dutchmen committed 20 turnovers while the Knights turned the ball over just 11 times.

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The UW-Platteville Pioneers have come so tantalizing close to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's "Big Four," but have come up just short in their seven previous games against UW-Stout, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire.

Until Wednesday.

The Pioneers defeated visiting 21st-ranked UW-Eau Claire 74-70 to clinch their first .500 season in a decade, improving to 13-11 overall and 8-7 in the WIAC. The Blugolds fell to 18-5, 10-5.

It was Senior Night for the Pioneers, and all three seniors contributed greatly to the breakthrough win. Crystal Stietz, the conference's leading scorer, poured in 31 points and set a school record by making 14 of 14 from the line. Stietz made a baseline jump shot and two free throws with 42 seconds remaining for a 71-68 lead.

After the Blugolds' Becca Spaeth knocked down a pair of free shots to make it a one-point game, senior Katie Oliver hit two free throws with 14 seconds left for a 73-70 advantage. After a UWEC missed 3-point attempt, Tiff Flesch made one of two free throws with 1.2 ticks left for the final margin.

Senior Grace Foster added 16 points, with 12 coming via the 3-point shot, and Flesch finished with 11 points. Kristi Channing led Eau Claire with 15 points, while Emilee Planert scored 14.

VIRGINIA BEACH – When Bill Gobble connected on a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining to be played against long-time rival Hampden-Sydney, a partisan record crowd of 1,102 at Virginia Wesleyan' Jane P. Batten Student Center let him know they liked what he did.

A deafening roar erupted on Gobble's third triple of the game, as it squelched a Hampden-Sydney run that had cut Virginia Wesleyan's 68-60 lead to only two points. The visiting Tigers pulled within three points after that triple, but were out of runs as the host Marlins used clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to post a 78-70 victory over the nation's 12th-ranked team.

It was a significant victory as it extended a current winning streak to seven in a row, improved the Marlins' Old Dominion Athletic Conference record to a best-ever 14-4, gave VWC (16-9 overall) the second seed in the upcoming ODAC tournament, and marked only the second regular-season sweep of the Tigers in VWC history. The Marlins tripped the then seventh-ranked Tigers 60-57, at Hampden-Sydney, on Jan. 16.

"Bill's three late in the game was huge," says VWC head coach Dave Macedo. "He really gave us a spark off the bench, as did Ryan Kahle. They were both important contributors to the win. We set the tone early, but Hampden-Sydney (19-5, 13-5) made some great runs. You have to give our guys a lot of credit though for holding them off and making some big plays at the end of the game."

Off the bench, Gobble and Kahle, a pair of juniors, combined for 30 points, hitting 10 of 15 field goals, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range, and 5-for-5 from the line. Gobble was perfect across the board, hitting all four field goals, all three triples, and both free throws that he attempted.

While their contributions were crucial, so was the floor leadership of point guard James Wallace. The stalwart senior repeatedly found ways to get shots up and in over a harassing Hampden-Sydney defense, scoring a game-high 24 points, his second best total of the season. Wallace connected on six of 12 field goal attempts, including 5-for-11 from three-point range.

"James Wallace is on the top of his game now," says Macedo "He was the difference in the game, in my opinion. He wanted the ball, he made several clutch shots, he was 7-for-7 from the foul line, and he handled their constant pressure pretty well overall."

Pressure was constant from both squads throughout an intense contest that saw five ties and nine lead changes, six of the latter in the second half. Momentum ping-ponged, with each team producing scoring runs to keep the tally tight.

VWC used a 7-0 run to open up a 14-6 lead early, only to see the Tigers respond later with four consecutive triples, three by junior Matt McKeag, in a 14-2 surge to take a 28-27 advantage with 3:56 in the half. Wallace responded with a triple to stop the run and return the lead to the Marlins, who closed out the half with an11-0 surge to open up a 41-30 lead.

Before the clock could hit 0:00 though, Hampden-Sydney sophomore Jeff Monroe stripped the cords with a 3-pointer from just inside the midcourt stripe. The Tigers rode that momentum shift into the locker room and back out onto the court for the second half, opening with a 9-0 run that gave the Tigers a 42-41 lead at 16:26.

The teams traded the lead four times in the next 94 seconds, before Gobble emerged with a 3-pointer that gave the Marlins a lead they would not surrender. His triple at the 14:01 mark sparked a 9-0 spurt that pushed the Marlins into a 56-48 lead and left Hampden-Sydney on the chase.

Key scores by senior Josh Fisher, junior Louis Park and first-year Marlin Kyle Sharp helped VWC to maintain the upper hand, before Hampden-Sydney produced one more rush at the lead. Junior Lane Brooks started it with a dunk and in the next 80 seconds the Tigers cut a 68-60 deficit to 68-66 on a jumper by David Willson.

That's when Gobble stepped up to knock the wind out of the Tigers for the last time, drilling home the triple that enabled the Marlins to keep a step ahead to the final buzzer.

Three-pointers electrified the crowd throughout the game, as the teams combined to hit 20 of 39 from the long ranges. VWC hit on 12 of 26, the Marlins' second-highest single-game production of the season. Five different Marlins hit for at least one triple. Hampden-Sydney did post a 30-28 edge in rebounds, but game-high honors belonged to Kahle, who pulled in a season-high nine.

McKeag paced Hampden-Sydney scoring with 18 points. Brooks finished with 16 and Monroe with 11.

"Our guys are playing with a lot of confidence," says Macedo. "They're believing in one another and that's helping our program to move in the right direction. Anytime you can beat a top-notch program like Hampden-Sydney, it puts you on the map. To beat them twice and have the opportunity for another rematch with them is something our guys feel pretty good about."

PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark's Scott Davis led the Pioneers to a 78-67 win over No. 25 Willamette in a battle between the Northwest Conference's top two teams. Willamette (18-6, 12-3 NWC) had just entered the Top 25 for the first time.

Davis poured in 26 points, including 15 straight points for the Pioneers (18-5, 11-3) after Willamette had taken a 47-46 lead at the 13:55 mark in the second half. Davis' tear ended at 4:40 when the Colin Oriard made a layup to give the Pios a 63-58 lead.

Willamette's big push came early in the second half. Trailing by 11 points, Ryan Hepp and Marques Johnson led the Bearcats back. Johnson's rebound and putback gave the Bearcats the 47-46 lead, but it was too much Davis down the stretch.

Oriard finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Jeff Auxier scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, when the Pios built a 40-31 advantage. John Mietus notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards.

Johnson led the way for Willamette with 21 points, followed by Brian Newton with 17. Hepp finished with 13 and six assists. B.J. Dobrkovsky had a game-high nine assists and a team-high nine rebounds.

The win virtually clinches a berth in the Northwest Conference Tournament for the Pioneers. The Pioneers can attain the No. 1 seed with two wins this Friday at Pacific Lutheran and at home Saturday against Linfield. If the Pioneers lose twice this weekend, Whitworth splits its final two games, and Linfield wins its final two, the Lewis & Clark would finish in a three-way tie for second with the Pirates and Wildcats and would lose the tiebreaker. Willamette has clinched a berth in the three-team tournament.

KENOSHA, Wis. – Carthage beat North Park 74-59 on Monday night to clinch at least a tie for the CCIW title and, according to CCIW tiebreaker experts Gregory Sager and Bob Quillman, the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Although Augustana can win out and tie the No. 1-ranked Redmen for the CCIW title at 10-4, Carthage would still win the automatic bid in the third tiebreaker. According to Sager:

* If the Redmen were to lose their last three games, and Augustana won out, then both teams would finish 10-4 and tied for first. The first tiebreaker, head-to-head, would be a wash – because for this scenario to happen, Augie would have to beat Carthage up in Kenosha on Feb. 23. Carthage beat Augie 64-63 in Rock Island on Jan. 23.

* The second tiebreaker, comparative records against other CCIW teams starting from the third-place team and working down the standings, would also be a wash. Both Carthage and Augie would've split with the same three other teams – Elmhurst, Millikin, and Wheaton.

* The third tiebreaker is road record. Carthage's CCIW road record would be 6-1. The best Augie can do at this point on the road is finish 4-3. Therefore, Carthage wins the third tiebreaker, and thus the CCIW's Pool A bid.

But if you're not convinced by this, they can put your doubts to rest on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Millikin.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Nikki Kingston scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the second half to power the King's women to a 60-46 victory against host Muhlenberg in a battle of two of the top teams in the Mid-Atlantic on Monday at Memorial Hall.

The No. 4 Lady Monarchs snapped Muhlenberg's 20-game home win streak while improving to 21-2 on the year. The No. 15 Mules fell to 19-3.

With the Lady Monarchs leading 25-22 entering the second half, Kingston ignited a 14-4 run with a basket and four foul shots while Fran Monte added a pair of buckets to give King's a 39-28 lead with 11:36 remaining. Muhlenberg would eventually claw back to 44-41 with 8:27 left when Lindsay St. Lawrence converted a pair of three-point plays while Susan Marchiano added a pair of baskets.

The Lady Monarchs countered with a basket by Jen Wozniak and four consecutive foul shots by Kingston to increase the advantage to 48-41 with 7:30 left. After the Mules closed to 50-44 on a basket by St. Lawrence and a foul shot by Marchiano with 6:03 left, the Lady Monarchs would put the game away with a 10-2 spurt keyed by a basket and two foul shots by Monte, a bucket by Kristin Yeasted, and two foul shots each by Wozniak and Kingston.

In the first half, the Lady Monarchs held a slim 9-8 lead before going on a 8-0 run. Kingston hit a driving layup before Tiffini Varrasse followed with a steal and lay-up with 11:23 left. After a bucket by Monte, Carissa Ryan converted a pair of foul shots to put King's up 17-8 with 10:16 left. Muhlenberg then countered with a 4-0 run to close the gap to 17-12. After the teams traded four consecutive baskets, the Lady Monarchs took a 21-14 lead on a bucket by Jen Wozniak with 5:44 left.

The Lady Mules would then close out the half with a 8-4 run keyed by a pair of baskets by Susan Marchiano and buckets by Jenn Risley and Becky Richmond to cut the halftime margin to 25-22.

Overall, Monte aided the Lady Monarch cause with 13 points and seven rebounds while Wozniak chipped in with 10 points and six boards. Tiffini Varrasse scored seven points with seven assists, and seven steals.

Muhlenberg was led by Marchiano with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Baran added 11 points. St. Lawrence chipped in with eight points for the Mules.

ST. PAUL – Senior guard Mark Buri had 29 points, including the final six points of the game in the decisive third overtime, as No. 5 ranked St. Thomas outlasted Macalester 86-80 in MIAC men's action Monday night in Schoenecker Arena.

The Tommies (21-3, 17-2 MIAC) clinched a share of the MIAC championship and locked up the top seed for next week's six-team playoffs with the victory. UST has won 16 of its last 17 games and is 12-0 at home this season.

Buri, who played all 55 minutes of the game, hit a 14-foot jumper with six seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 64-64. A subsequent shot by Mac at the buzzer missed to force overtime. The Tommies missed potential game-winning shots in the final seconds of the first and second overtimes.

In the third overtime, Buri made a 3-pointer with 2:29 to go for an 80-78 lead. Mac's Doug Benson tied the game at 80-80 on a layup with 1:53 to go. Buri answered with a reverse layup with 1:07 left to give UST a 82-80 lead.

After a Macalester missed shot, UST's Kevin Fitzgerald dug out an offensive rebound of a Tommie shot with 18 seconds to go and got the ball to Buri, who was fouled. Buri made two free throws with 15 seconds left for an 84-80 lead, then added two more with three seconds to go.

Buri sank 12-of-12 at the line and the Tommies made 31 of 36 free throws to Mac's 9-for-16. Macalester made 13 3-pointers to just seven for the Toms.

The Scots (14-9, 12-6) led 38-34 at halftime and built a 10-point lead at 48-38 with 15:00 to go. They played the final 3:29 of regulation and all three overtimes without leading scorer Patrick Russell, who appeared to suffer a concussion after he slumped to the court. Russell and Erik Jackson each scored 20 points and Ben Van Thorre had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Scots.

Fitzgerald, who also played all 55 minutes, had 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Tommies. Jimmy Sioris added 17 points and Cole Butler had 14 points and eight rebounds.

The Tommies are 2-0 in overtime games this season and 6-0 in overtime games over the last 10 seasons.

ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men defeated Bethel 68-66 on Monday, assuring the Gusties of a first-round bye and home court for at least the semifinal of the MIAC playoffs.

The Gusties led by as many as ten points in the first half thanks to the hard work of Chad Henke on the blocks. Henke scored eight points and ripped down seven rebounds in the first session, but Bethel's Brett Repsaky tallied 10 points to lead the Royals on a 20-9 run that was capped off by a Josh Moberg jumper at the buzzer. Moberg's basket gave Bethel a 33-32 lead heading into the dressing room – their first since the six-minute mark when they led 10-8.

Andy Gilbert, who scored 39 points against Gustavus in their first meeting, shot just 3-for-10 in the first half for seven points. Gustavus point guard Hans Sviggum turned the ball over five times in the first half during his nine minutes on the court. The Gusties fired a meager 34.6% from the floor in the first session, while Bethel shot 43.3%. In the second half, David Newell fired up the entire gym when he slammed home an alley-oop dunk from Sviggum just one minute into play.

Gustavus went down low in the second half, as the Gusties outscored the Royals 22-6 in the paint. There were 12 lead changes in the contest, and with 5:18 remaining Bethel went up 61-55 on an Eric Roberston jump-hook. The Gusties fought back on a Brett Boese layup and a three-point play by Kirk Walberg when he drove baseline, made the basket and the free throw to get it to 61-60.

Bethel had a 66-65 edge with 2:15 on the clock when Eric Nelson stole the ball from Brett Repasky at midcourt and found Boese for the layup, giving Gustavus the lead for good. The Gusties held on despite shooting 5-for-11 from the line in the second half.

Henke finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds, good enough for hi 10th double-double of the year.

He said that the turning point in the contest came when Bethel was up six, "We called a timeout and responded with a 5-0 run. We didn't let it slip away and then made a hug play down the stretch when Eric ripped off that steal."

Newell racked up 15 points, six rebounds, and two blocks for the Gusties who shot a much-improved 56% in the second half. Bethel was led by the MIAC's leading scorer, Gilbert, with 20 points on 7-for-17 shooting. Repasky added 14 for the Royals (17-5, 13-5). Gustavus (20-3, 15-3) recorded their 20th win for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

DePauw and Washington University clinched bids to the women's NCAA women's NCAA Tournament as DePauw claimed the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference by beating Trinity (Texas) 79-66 and Wash U took the UAA title with a 75-45 win against Emory.

The Tigers (20-2, 15-0 SCAC) captured at least a share of their fourth title in as many years since joining the conference and extended their school-record win streak to 19 games. The Tigers have now won at least 20 games in five of the last six seasons.

Washington U., the four-time Division III defending champion, rolled past Emory 75-45 to win its 33rd consecutive game and clinch the UAA title outright.

By PATRICK BRANNAN,
Sports Editor, Rocky Mount Telegram

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – In a close game every play can be critical.

N.C. Wesleyan came up with several plays that made a difference Sunday. The
end result was a 91-89 Bishops' victory in overtime against No. 15 Christopher Newport. Wesleyan (16-6, 9-3 Dixie) completed a season sweep of the Captains.

"As I tell the guys all the time, and we've been involved in a lot of close games, any play during the 45 minutes can make the difference," Wesleyan coach John Thompson said.

One of the biggest plays came with 47 seconds left in overtime. CNU's Albert Haskins was at the free-throw line for a one-and-one. He hit the first, but the second was waved off because of a lane violation by the Captains' Rashawn Rosa. The shot would have given CNU (19-4, 9-3) an 88-80 lead.

Instead it gave the Bishops life.

"That was huge obviously," Thompson said. "We were able to capitalize and we did just enough to get it done. Our guys have repeatedly shown that they have heart, they have character and they don't ever quit."

Wesleyan had to rally twice, once in regulation and the final rally in overtime. The Bishops were down by five with 1:30 left in regulation and trailed by seven with 47 seconds left in overtime.

Keith Sudler started the final comeback with a layin. After Haskins missed two free throws, Sudler found Bradley Blue for a 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to 87-85 with 31 seconds left.

With 29 seconds remaining, Carlos Heard hit the first of two free throws for CNU. Bobby Jenkins grabbed the rebound on the second and was fouled. He hit both free throws to cut the margin to 88-87.

That's when Wesleyan got another play to go its way. The Captains turned the ball over and the Bishops had the ball underneath their own basket. Bobby Jenkins found Ryan Sinclair off the in-bounds play for an easy layup to give Wesleyan an 89-88 lead. It was a play that Thompson said the team doesn't use much.

"We have a couple of real staples that we use," Thompson said. "That's one that we practice and we work on, but it's not one of our primary things. I didn't have any timeouts, so I couldn't draw up something new that nobody's ever seen, but we needed to do something that we'd practiced before but I wanted to give them something that they probably hadn't seen on tape. You couldn't have asked for a better look."

Jermaine Woods missed a jumper for CNU with nine seconds left and Sudler grabbed the rebound. He hit both free throws to seal the win.

Sudler paced Wesleyan with 29 points. Blue added 12 and Jenkins followed a 20-point game on Saturday with a double-double – 12 points and 11 assists.

The win moves Wesleyan into second place in the Dixie with two games remaining. Methodist is alone at the top at 9-2 while the Bishops and Captains are both 9-3. Wesleyan holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Captains.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Erika Smith converted a three-point play with 21.8 seconds left and Anne Gotstein added an insurance free throw with eight seconds remaining as Rochester (15-7, 6-5 UAA) upset 12th-ranked NYU at the Palestra, sending the Violets to their second consecutive loss and their fifth in eight games.

It's the second time this season NYU has been swept on a UAA weekend road trip, after falling at No. 1 Washington U. and sub-.500 Chicago last month. NYU needs to beat Wash U. in the return game next Sunday to have any shot at a Pool C bid to the NCAA tournament.

The victory wasn't secured until NYU's Dari Magyar bounced a 3-point shot off the left side of the rim at the final buzzer. UR has won three straight and four of its last five. NYU (17-5, 6-5) was atop the NCAA's East Region poll entering the week.

Megan Fish scored a career high 16 points for UR. She made two free throws with 1:33 left, tying the score at 64-64.

Allison Herman's layup put the Violets ahead, 66-64, with 33 seconds to go. In the closing seconds, Smith ran around a screen, caught Gotstein's pass, and laid the ball in. She was fouled by Magyar and made the free throw, giving UR a 67-66 lead.

With eight seconds left, NYU's Cassandra Wiggins missed a jumper and fouled Gotstein on the rebound. Gotstein made the first of two free throws for a 68-66 lead.

On the final possession, Chiene Jones rushed the ball upcourt and found Magyar for the final jumper.

UR led by as much as five (53-48) midway through the second half and was ahead by four, 56-52, on Sarah Sullivan's 3-pointer with 6:00 left. Wiggins scored eight points to key an 11-4 run that put NYU ahead, 63-60, with 2:15 left.

Wiggins scored a career high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds for NYU before fouling out. Kelly Wescott was UR's only other double-digit scorer. She had 11 points. Smith finished with seven points. Gotstein had one point, four rebounds, and three assists.

BROWNWOOD, Texas – Kristy Lyons was just 5-for-14 from the field but 7-for-10 from the line in leading four players in double figures as Howard Payne upset No. 2 Hardin-Simmons 74-66 in American Southwest Conference action, handing the Cowgirls their first loss of the season. Crystal Perriraz added 15, Lindsey Cantrell 12 and Heather Moon 10 for Howard Payne (15-8, 9-3). The Yellow Jackets limited Hardin-Simmons (21-1, 11-1) to 38.6% from the floor (22-for-57).

The loss, which ends Hardin-Simmons' 21-game winning streak, leaves Wash U. as the only undefeated team, men's or women's, in Division III.

"This is the accomplishment we have been dreaming of, and to finally do it, it's amazing," Perriraz told the Brownwood Bulletin. "Anyone who comes to Howard Payne dreams of beating Hardin-Simmons. For it to happen my senior year, this is incredible."

Lauren Harris led Hardin-Simmons with 17 points, while Kendra Anderson (above), who scored 38 points in the teams' first meeting, was held to 14 for the Cowgirls, who shot just 9-for-27 from the floor in the second half.

No. 2 Catholic, No. 4 Brockport State and unranked Keene State each picked up their second losses of the season Saturday, as Catholic's 20-game win streak ended at Marymount 79-70, Brockport lost 88-76 at Plattsburgh State and Keene lost at Western Connecticut 90-83. Full stories inside.

ANNVILLE, Pa. – After going 20-6 and being snubbed for the postseason in 2001, Elizabethtown has gone one better so far this season, winning at Lebanon Valley 95-66 to improve to 21-2. The win broke the school record of 20 wins originally set in 1963-64 and tied last season.

Although Lebanon Valley (16-6, 8-4 MAC Commonwealth) never held the lead at any point over the course of the game, the Flying Dutchmen did stick close throughout much of the first half. The teams were tied 12-12 with 12:06 to go in the first half before sixth-ranked Elizabethtown embarked on a ten point run over the next two and a half minutes.

Etown maintained a lead of about ten points until the final two minutes of the first half, when Lebanon Valley, sparked by Chris Kreider's four points in 20 seconds, began to cut the gap. With 30 seconds remaining before halftime, Lebanon Valley's Evan Harlor hit a 3-pointer to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 41-37. Elizabethtown took a seven-point lead into halftime courtesy of a 3-pointer by Rocky Parise just with 1.8 seconds left in the half.

The Blue Jays opened the second half with seven unanswered points. Etown began to put the game out of reach at 15:50 when a layup by Ian Daecher made the score 55-43 and sparked a nine-point Blue Jay run over the next two minutes. Elizabethtown's lead hit 20 points for the first time in the game on a 3-pointer by Jim Barron at 9:41.

The Blue Jays assumed a brief 31-point lead with 11 seconds left to play when freshman Kyle Conrad hit a 3-pointer. A layup by Lebanon Valley's Kyle Hassler three seconds before the end of the game cut the final margin to 29 points.

"We try not to talk about (being left out of the tournament last year)," said Elizabethtown head coach Bob Schlosser. "We want to have something to show for this year other than a good record. Whatever number (of wins) that is doesn't matter."

Five Blue Jays hit double figures in scoring, and they were led by Chad Heller with 17 points. He also led Elizabethtown with four steals and six rebounds, and he had four assists as well. Brian Marquette had a memorable Lebanon County homecoming, coming off the bench to score 14 points on the strength of 6-for-8 shooting from the field.

Brian Loftus chipped in 14 points for the Blue Jays while dishing out four assists and making three swipes, and center Jon English scored 12 points and had three assists. Parise scored 10 points, aided by a perfect 3-for-3 performance from the 3-point line, with six assists and four rebounds.

Kreider led Lebanon Valley with 23 points, and John Sharkey was LVC's only other double-digit scorer with 10 points. Darren Pugh led Lebanon Valley with 10 rebgounds while scoring eight points.

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, Va. – Junior forward Jared Mills scored 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lift seventh-ranked Randolph-Macon to a 60-51 victory against ODAC foe and eighth-ranked Hampden-Sydney on Saturday in Fleet Gymnasium. The win moves the Yellow Jackets to 20-4 overall and 15-2 in the conference and a lock for the first seed in the ODAC Tournament while Hampden-Sydney falls to 19-4 overall and 13-4 in the ODAC.

Randolph-Macon opened the game on an 8-0 run, but the Tigers countered with the next eight points to tie the contest at 15:32 mark. The two teams then battled back and forth until Hampden-Sydney took an 18-17 lead on a Lane Brooks layup with 7:30 to play in the first half. The two then battled over the next 3:30 of the contest with the score remaining 18-17 until Jamal Brunt broke the scoreless stretch with a 12-foot baseline jumper. Sophomore David Willson then countered with his first 3 of the year to push the Tigers ahead again, 21-19, but the Yellow Jackets closed the half on an 6-0 run, thanks to a Brunt 3 and three Tim Smith free throws to lead 25-21 in the locker room.

Hampden-Sydney quickly knotted the game in the early going of the second half and after a layup and free throw by Willson, the Tigers took their biggest lead of the game, 30-27, with 15 minutes to play. Jared Mills then hit a layup and made a free throw for the Yellow Jackets to tie the game again, before a Jeff Monroe jumper gave the Tigers their final lead of the contest, 32-30, at the 13:42.

Mills' layup started a dominating run for the junior as he scored nine consecutive points for the Yellow Jackets and, along with a Tim Smith 3-pointer, paced the Jacket run that culminated in a 10-point lead (42-32) with 9:39 to play. Lane Brooks' free throws broke the 12-0 Jacket run and two more freebies from Matt McKeag cut the Jacket lead to six.

Randolph-Macon the went off on another 9-0 run over the next three minutes, this time paced by five points from sophomore Kurt Bergmann, to run the lead to 51-36 with 4:55 to play. The Tigers were able to whittle the lead down to seven points (54-47) on a layup by Brandon Randall, but that was a close as the team could get as Mills knocked down five of six free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the contest.

Mills led all players with 23 points, while Bergmann chipped in with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Jackets. Randolph-Macon shot 47% (17-for-36) from the floor, 50% (6-for-12) from 3-point range and 74% (20-for-27) from the line. Macon also committed 25 turnovers, but outrebounded H-SC 35-29.

Lane Brooks led the Tigers with 13 points, while Willson chipped in with 12. Hampden-Sydney shot just 32% (18-for-57) for the game and made just two of 16 from 3-point range but made 13 of 17 (77%) free throws. The Tigers turned the ball over 16 times.

A famous coach once said of his star player, "He may not be in a class by himself, but it doesn't take long to call the roll."

With 26 points, including 24 in the second half, of a 70-63 come-from-behind win over Pennsylvania Athletic Conference foe Wesley, Misericordia's Willie Chandler joined former Salisbury State star Andre Foreman and Colby's Matt Hancock as the only players in Division III history to reach 2,000 career points during their junior season. (Trenton State's Greg Grant also reached 2,000 in three years, but didn't play as a freshman.)

Chandler entered the game needing just six points to reach the milestone, but made everyone wait as he tallied just one field goal in the first half as the Cougars trailed 34-22 at the break.

After falling behind 43-24 with under 17 minutes to play, Chandler sank two free throws to cut the lead to 43-29 with 13:53 remaining.

Just as he did to eclipse the 1,000-point mark, Chandler deflected a pass and went coast-to-coast for a dunk and 2,000 career points.

Wesley built the lead back to 13 with 10 minutes left, but the Cougars (16-7, 11-3) chipped away until finally taking their first lead and only lead on a Chandler 3-pointer with 2:35 to go.

SALEM, Ore. – For the first time in almost three years, the George Fox women's team has dropped two games in a row as the Bruins struggled offensively and suffered a heart-breaking 53-51 upset at the hands of Willamette in Northwest Conference action Saturday night at the Cone Fieldhouse. The loss followed a 55-44 loss to Puget Sound on Friday night.

Both teams had trouble getting the ball in the hoop in the early going, Willamette managing an 8-2 lead eight minutes into the game. Bruin coach Scott Rueck then decided to go with his "team of the future," pulling starting seniors Becky Thompson at point, Nicole Prazeau at wing, and Heather Doud at post in favor of freshmen Melissa Alexander, Liz Clark, and Sarah Myhre. The newcomers sparked a 14-2 run that gave George Fox a 16-10 lead, and the Bruins eventually stretched that to 32-18 at the half.

The Bruin starters still struggled offensively as the second half began, and with Nancy Weyler scoring eight of her game-high 18 points, the Bearcats reeled off a 10-0 run to get within four at 32-28. The Bruins upped it back to 10 with 13:26 left on a layup by Emily Ruggles, but then went cold again, missing 12 shots and committing seven turnovers as Willamette posted an 18-1 run to go up 50-43 with five minutes left. Heather Doud's jumper with 1:08 left got George Fox within one at 52-51.

Down 53-51 after a Simmie Muth free throw, the Bruins had a chance to tie as Thompson drove the lane, but Muth fouled her with 1.4 seconds left. As it was only the sixth Willamette foul, the Bruins had to take the ball out under the basket. Thompson's inbounds pass sailed untouched to the opposite end of the court, however, and the Bearcats got the ball. Muth was fouled with a tenth of a second left and missed her free throw, but there wasn't enough time for a full-court shot.

Myhre was the only Bruin in double figures with 11 points, going 5-for-6 from the floor, while Doud and Clark led the Bruins to a 39-38 rebound edge with seven apiece. Thompson had four assists and four steals. However, the Bruins suffered through a horrendous shooting night, finishing 18-59 (.305) from the field, and were only 7-for-28 (25.0%) in the second half. From 3-point range, the normally accurate Bruins (ranked 28th nationally in percentage) this night were just 3-for-25 (12.0%) from behind the line.

In addition to Weyler's 18, Muth scored 15 and Kasey Sorenson 11. Rosie Contri grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, and Sorenson had 6 assists. The Bearcats shot 40.0% (20-for-50) in the game, including 52.2% (12-for-23) in the second half.

George Fox fell to 19-4 overall and 10-4 in the conference while suffering its first two-game losing streak since Dec. 1 and 4, 1998. Willamette improved to 10-13 overall and 5-9 in the league.

COLUMBUS – A 16-0 run midway through the second half lifted the Capital University men's basketball team to an 85-73 win over Baldwin-Wallace in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup Saturday.

Capital, ranked No. 14 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25, extends Division III's second-longest win streak to 15 games and moves its record to 20-3 on the season and 13-3 in the OAC, winning 20 games for the first time since 1988-89. The Crusaders kept pace with crosstown rival and 11th-ranked Otterbein, who beat John Carroll 89-84 to stay tied in first place in the conference standings.

Baldwin-Wallace controlled much of the first half and had a 33-25 lead with four minutes to go in the half. Capital junior Tony Ruberg took over scoring seven straight points in a 13-6 Capital run to close the gap to one point, 39-38 at the half. Ruberg finished the first half with 16 points.

Baldwin-Wallace once again ran out to an eight-point lead, 50-42, early in the second half and was up 55-50 with 13:16 remaining when Capital exploded for its 16-0 decisive run.

Ruberg and fellow junior Geron Tate each had a game-high 18 points. Sophomore Adam Stolly scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Freshmen Jake Beck and Paul Sheehy also scored in double digits with 11 and 10 respectively.

Baldwin-Wallace had four players in double figures led by Craig Budziak with 17 points.

FRANKLIN, Ind. – It was the kind of shot that's been dreamed about kids shooting around by themselves since the beginning of basketball.

And it happened for Jake Sappenfield and it happened for the Franklin men against HCAC rival Anderson at Spurlock Center on Saturday.

With just 1.8 seconds left, the senior guard caught a long pass from the end-court from teammate Chad Miller turned to his right and fired a bomb from the half-court circle that swished through the net as the buzzer sounded. The Spurlock crowd erupted as Sappenfield's teammate mobbed him on the court. The shot gave the Grizzlies a hard-fought 84-81 victory against the Ravens, who led for most of the game.

Franklin (15-8, 6-6 HCAC) had little going for it through much of the second half. After trailing by five points at 40-35 at the intermission, the Grizzlies fell behind by as many as 11 points. Sappenfield and sophomore point guard Scott Study were in heavy foul trouble and senior front-liners Josh Quattrocchi and Jed Zarse only had two points between them.

But Franklin kept within striking distance, hitting its free throws – the Grizzlies hit 27 of 31 foul shots in all – and eventually wrested the lead away from AU (14-9, 6-6). Quattrocchi hit a huge basket and subsequent free throw with 12 seconds left to give the Grizzlies an 81-79 advantage. But the Ravens tied the game on a rebound basket by Derek Ricketts in the closing seconds, setting up Sappenfield's heroics.

Sappenfield led all scorers with 23 points. He also had four assists and three steals. Freshman guard Nick Scott tallied a career-high 21 points and Miller added 16 points and career-best 17 rebounds. Curtis Thomas led Anderson with 17 points, including a trio of 3-point baskets. Ricketts had 15 points and Wegahta Ghebremichael added 14.

The Grizzlies ended up outshooting Anderson 45-44% and outfought the Ravens under the backboards, grabbing 41 rebounds to AU's 32.

ANNVILLE, Pa. – Junior Stephanie Tighe posted a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds as Lebanon Valley beat visiting Elizabethtown 58-41 in a MAC Commonwealth matchup.

The Valley increased its team record for wins in a season and improved to 19-3 overall, 11-1 in the conference. Elizabethtown suffered its third consecutive loss and dropped to 5-17, 3-9.

As always, Lebanon Valley took care of business with hard defense and exceptional rebounding. The Valley outrebounded the Blue Jays 54-29 and held Elizabethtown to 28.1% shooting.

After trailing 22-15 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first period, LVC finished the half going on a 14-2 run to take a five-point lead. Junior Christine Bigler and Lauren Emick sparked the run by each draining a 3-pointer. Bigler finished with two three pointers and scored all 10 of her points in the first half. Emick also recorded two three pointers to end the night with six points.

Tighe scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half, including 11 in the final 5:45. She notched her fifth double-double of the season, shooting 8-for-15 from the floor and going 6-for-7 from the free throw line.

Freshman Crystal Gibson pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds. Freshman Tamika Rogers gave LVC 22 productive minutes, finishing with nine rebounds, four points and one block. Freshman Jennifer Northcott chipped in nine points and six rebounds. Stephanie Scinto led the Blue Jays with nine points, while Jessica Hollinshead and Cherrissa McCoy each notched eight.

MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Down 11 as many as 17 points in the second half, Chowan rallied to beat Christopher Newport 64-62.

The Braves (12-9, 6-5 Dixie) trailed by 11 at the half and could not seem to muster much offense as they managed to shoot just 27% from the floor (9-for-33). Chowan made a run with just over seven minutes to go in the second half when they cut the lead to five points. Erin Ward hit a 3-pointer to tie the game up at 49 apiece with 6:20 on the clock. Amanda Murray hit a jumper and a 3-pointer in two Braves possessions to give Chowan a 55-51 lead with 4:30 to go. Ward stretched the lead to seven points when she hit from beyond the arc, pushing the Braves to 58-51 with just under four minutes to go.

The Captains (18-3, 9-2) cut the lead to one point with 1:30 left before Ward put back a Murray miss to take them back up by three. The Captains were forced to foul and sent Ward to the line where she sunk both foul shots to give the Braves a 62-57 lead. Christopher Newport's Amber Hallman hit a layup to pull the Captains within two points with seconds left, but Ward iced the game with a pair of foul shots for the 64-62 win.

Ashley Winslow netted her tenth double-double of the season by scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Kara Jackson had 13 points and four assists while Murray scored 13 in the win. Erin Ward had 10 points and four steals in the victory. Tia Moore had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Captains while Jen Harrell contributed 11 in the loss.

AUSTIN, Texas – Five minutes into Thursday night's game, Concordia-Austin forward K.B. DeBord put down a reverse dunk on a backdoor cut to become the second Division III player this season (and the first man) to reach the 2,000-point plateau. He finished the night with 39 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the floor and 14-for-16 from the line. He finished the night with 2,031 points.

DeBord would have reached the plateau sooner, but the senior missed a game in January because of injury after having started 86 consecutive games. The two-time first-team All-American Southwest Conference selection is averaging 24 points per game this season and 21 per game over the course of his career, while shooting 60% from the floor. Misericordia junior guard Willie Chandler is next up for 2,000, as he's six short of the milestone heading into Saturday's game against Wesley.

AUSTIN — Duke Chance hit four three-pointers and scored 25 points as the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs rallied from a poor start to post an 89-81 American Southwest Conference road win Thursday evening over Concordia-Austin. The Bulldogs overcame a 39-point performance from K.B. DeBord, including the senior's 2,000th career point, to stay mathematically alive in the ASC West Division race.

Concordia jumped to leads of 14-2 and 21-7 in the game's opening minutes, but the Bulldogs responded with clutch shooting in the second half and maintained a 10-point lead throughout much of the final 20 minutes.

Texas Lutheran (10-11, 6-4 ASC West) shot 61% from the field and hit four of six 3-point attempts in the second half. For the game, the Bulldogs shot 55% from the floor and held Concordia (13-9, 6-5) to 43%, including 32% in the second half.

“We showed a lot of character battling back from that terrible start,” said Tom Oswald, Texas Lutheran head coach. “We just kept plugging away and taking good shots. We continue to grow as a team and make improvements. Tonight was a big win.”

Freshman forward Tommy Stolhandske continued his solid play with an 18-point, eight-rebound performance. He was 5-for-9 from the field and 8-for-11 from the foul line.

Senior post John Laramore added 14 points and seven rebounds. Josh Martinez, the Bulldogs' freshman point guard, had 10 points, five assists and four steals.

Charles Perry came off the Bulldog bench to score eight points and grab eight rebounds. Freshman shooting guard Nik Summers had nine, all on 3-pointers.

DeBord's 39 for Concordia led all scorers, while Darren Johnson added 27. The Bulldogs held point guard Keith Darden to 4-for-14 shooting and eight points.

WHITEWATER, Wis. – The last time the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball team was in first place in February, the league was still the WSUC, and head coach Ted Van Dellen was in a Titans uniform.

But two and a half decades after their last conference championship, the No. 10 Titans are again holding the top spot – tied with UW-La Crosse – this time in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Titans earned that lofty spot with a thrilling 71-70 win at league-leading and No. 17-ranked Whitewater Wednesday night, that wasn't clinched until Scott Sowinski hit a layup in the paint with four seconds left in the game.

Whitewater went on a 9-0 run with 3:08 left to take a 70-69 lead with 55 seconds remaining. Van Dellen called a time out at 28 seconds, and coming out of the huddle, Tim Dwoark missed a jumper at with seven seconds left.

The rebound fell into the hands of Sowinski who immediately put it back up, and gave Oshkosh the win.

The bucket capped off an otherwise quiet night for Sowinski, who finished with eight points and four rebounds. Oshkosh was led junior guard Nick Scherer who poured in 21 points, including five three-pointers.

Dworak, who leads the WIAC in scoring with 22.8 points per game, dropped in 17 and grabbed 10 rebounds for Oshkosh, which improved to 17-4 overall, 9-4 WIAC. The game was the ninth of the year that he has posted a double-double.

Whitewater (16-6, 9-5) was led by Jake Wolter's 18 points, while Londen Donlow added 12 of his own. Aubrey Lewis-Byers pulled down a team-high seven rebounds while adding 11 points.

With three games to play, Oshkosh now holds a half-game lead over the Warhawks and by virtue of a season sweep, the Titans would earn home-court advantage and the top seed in the WIAC Tournament should the teams finish the regular season tied.

The Titans continue the tough WIAC schedule by hosting No. 16 UW-Stevens Point on Saturday night.

WILMINGTON, Ohio – It being the first week of February, Capital's women might have felt like they were in the movie Groundhog Day as the Crusaders fell in overtime for the second straight year at Wilmington, 77-70.

Wilmington's Megan Woodruff nailed a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds in regulation to tie the game at 66-66 and send the contest into an extra session. In the extra frame, No. 7 Wilmington outscored the visiting Crusaders by a count of 11-4 to go on to the overtime victory.

The Quakers (20-1, 14-1) led the entire first half, but saw their largest lead of nine points, 20-11 at the 6:11 mark, evaporate into a 28-27 advantage at the break. Junior guard Rochelle Germany had 12 first half points for the Crusaders.

Capital (16-5, 11-4) would take its first lead with 15 minutes remaining with the score 38-37, but would only hold the edge for a possession. At the 10:29 mark, a Tenise Moffis 3-pointer put Capital on top again, 47-45. The Crusaders held that lead until Woodruff's heroics in the final seconds. Capital made only two of five free throws in the closing seconds to allow Wilmington a comeback.

Three more missed free throws and a 1-for-5 shooting performance in the overtime period spelled doom for the Crusaders.

Erica Hostetler poured in 17 points, Germany scored 14 while Moffis and Danielle Meyer each had 12 to lead the Crusaders, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Woodruff led all scorers with 26 points and MacKenzie Hammond had 20 for Wilmington.

ST. PAUL – David Newell scored on an inside bank shot off a nice assist from Chris TeBrake with 6.4 seconds to go to lift Gustavus (19-3, 14-3 MIAC) past Macalester 64-62 Wednesday night. TeBrake added a steal two seconds later to help seal the win.

Chad Henke scored 16 points to pace the Gusties, while Newell added 15 and Eric Nelson had 13. Hans Sviggum dished out six assists and Kirk Walberg had four.

Doug Benson scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first half to lead Macalester (13-8, 11-5). Ben Van Thorre added 14 points and seven rebounds and Patrick Russell had 12 points and eight boards.

The Scots went up 61-59 on a Van Thorre 3-pointer with 1:10 left and led 62-59 at the 41-second mark after a Greg Klancher free throw. GAC's Eric Nelson canned a pair of free throws at 0:29 to cut the lead to one and after a Macalester missed free throw on the front end of the bonus the Gusties scored the game-winner.

Gustavus has beaten the Scots 26 consecutive times, a streak which dates back to 1989.

LANCASTER, Pa. – Steve Juskin scored a game-high 13 points and No. 21 Franklin & Marshall opened the second half on a 21-2 run en route to a 59-44 win against No. 23 Gettysburg in Centennial Conference men's action Wednesday.

Asaf Ganot recorded nine points, five rebounds, six blocked shots and seven steals to help the Diplomats (18-4, 8-2) move into a tie for first place in the CC West Division with the Bullets (16-5, 8-2).

Gettysburg, which entered the game as the conference leader in field-goal percentage, shot just 24% from the floor in the second half while scoring a season-low 44 points and having its six-game winning streak halted.

Terence Callahan scored nearly half of his team's points on the night, hitting for 19 on 8-for-16 shooting. Curtis McNeil, who torched F&M for a career-high 35 points when the teams met in January, was held to a season-low five points while shooting just 2-for-14 from the floor.

After jumping out early, the Diplomats led throughout the half and took a 30-27 lead into the locker room.

Callahan opened the scoring with a driving layup on Gettysburg's first possession before Cas Thomas knocked down a 3-pointer to key a quick 7-0 F&M run.
Callahan pulled the Bullets within 9-8 by scoring on three more slashes to the basket. With every starter scoring over the next five minutes, F&M built the lead to 18-13 with 10:42 left in the half.

Gettysburg tied the game at 22 on Dami Oloruntoba's 3-pointer, but Jackeim Wright answered with a 3 of his own to ignite an 8-0 burst and put the Diplomats ahead 30-22.

Callahan knocked down a 3-pointer to break the Bullets' scoring drought and a backdoor layup from Jim Natale brought the visitors to within three at the break.

After halftime, however, Franklin & Marshall took over on both ends of the floor.
Behind six consecutive points from Duran Searles, who finished with 10, the Diplomats scored 12 consecutive points and built a 42-27 lead with 13:32 remaining.

McNeil converted a driving layup at 12:43 for Gettysburg's first points of the half, but five points from Juskin fueled a 9-0 burst that pushed the lead to 51-29.
The Bullets managed to pull within 16 by scoring the next six points, but would get no closer than 11 in the game's final minute.

Gettysburg still holds a slim advantage over F&M in the conference race as the Bullets swept Johns Hopkins, a team that defeated the Diplomats 68-61 in Baltimore. With the JHU victory, Gettysburg holds a one-game advantage in the CC West and would win the top seed if both the Diplomats and Bullets sweep the remainder of their schedules.

WELLESLEY, Mass. – Powered by the top defense in the nation, Babson defeated No. 18 Clark 90-79 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference men's action Tuesday night. With the win, the Beavers (18-3, 8-1 NEWMAC) take over first place in the conference, while the Cougars (16-4, 7-1) fall a half game behind.

Babson, with Division III's top scoring defense, allowing 57.7 points per game, held Clark 8.4 points below its average of 87.4, ranked No. 8 in D-III.

In a brilliantly played first half, Babson began pulling away late in the period, going on an 11-3 run that was capped by a spectacular play by freshman Jeff Nicholson. The rookie forward went above the rim to tip in a missed shot by sophomore Jeff Hines, giving Babson its largest lead of the half at 41-31. The Beavers still held a 10-point advantage with just 12 seconds remaining on the clock, but Clark sophomore Dave McNamara hit an amazing turnaround jumper from 3-point range as time expired to cut the Cougars deficit to seven, 43-36.

After shooting a blazing 73.9% (17-for-23) in the first half, Babson came out flat in the second, missing its first four field goal attempts. Clark took full advantage at the other end, scoring nine straight points in the first three minutes to take just its second lead of the game 45-43.

Neither team would take more than a four-point advantage over the next eight minutes, as Hines and Clark junior Sean Fleming carried their teams with a number of big shots. Then, with the contest tied at 63-63 with 9:02 remaining, Babson junior Mark Lussier connected on a short-range jumper to spark a 6-0 spurt that gave the Beavers a 69-63 advantage with 6:50 left.

Having already knocked down its first six free throw attempts in the contest, Clark remained close by hitting six more over the next two minutes. The final two by junior James Collins pulled the Cougars to within four at 73-69 with 4:26 left, but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way. Hines and junior tri-captain Joe Colelli immediately sank two fouls shots apiece for Babson to kick off an 8-3 run that resulted in an 81-72 advantage.

Following a jumper by Fleming that trimmed the lead back to seven with 2:25 on the clock, junior tri-captain Chris Michalowski fired a beautiful pass to Hines which resulted in an easy layup that pushed the advantage back to nine. On the Beavers' next possession, a pair of free throws by senior Giles Westie gave Babson an 85-74 lead with 1:27 left to play, and Nicholson put the game away moments later with a breakaway layup that made it 87-74. The Beavers cruised from that point, as they avenged an earlier season loss to the Cougars with a 90-79 victory.

Five different players scored in double figures for Babson, including Hines, who finished with a game-high 20. Lussier turned in a tremendous effort that included 16 points and seven rebounds, while Westie recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards. Nicholson added 14 points and Colelli netted 12 to round out the Beavers high scorers. Michalowski wrapped up a monster game with eight rebounds and a game-high eight assists for the Beavers, who shot 63.0% (34-for-54) from the floor.

Clark was paced by McNamara, who scored 19 points, and Fleming, who tallied 13 points and five assists. Walker chipped in with 13 points and three steals for the Cougars, who saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end.

KEUKA PARK, N.Y. – Controlling the tempo of the game, and outrebounding a bigger team were the keys in a, 70-58, North Eastern Athletic Conference win for the Storm against D'Youville.

Leading by double figures most of the second half, the Storm answered every Spartan run with a court-savvy pass, or cool jumper. Hitting for a season-high 48.2% from the floor, Keuka found an offensive groove for the first time this season, while using a pesky 2-3 zone to hold D'Youville to 35.2% shooting.

Sophomore Brian Pelkey (left) scored a career-high 20 points in the win and grabbed six rebounds, while junior Gerald Thompson totaled 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. Senior Brian Gehm scored 9 of his 11 points in the first half, hitting three of four from downtown. Junior Ron Carter handled the Spartan pressure, scoring six points, grabbing seven rebounds, and dishing out a game-high six assists. Senior center Judd Leonhardt, who is 30 points shy of 1,000 for his career, added 10 points in the win.

Junior Ian Morris paced the Spartans with 17 points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots. Freshman Justin Cooke scored 11 points, and snagged a game-high 11 boards. Senior Patrick Reed pitched in 12 points. Rookie Sanquin Starks, the third leading scorer in the NEAC at 17.8 points per game coming in, scored just eight on 4-for-16 shooting.

"Our defensive intensity was easily the best it has been all year," said an elated Keuka coach George Wunder. "I was happy that we were aggressive and intense on defense, and composed on offense. We did a good job using the clock, recognizing the hot man, and getting him the ball. It's good to get the monkey off the back"

Keuka improved to 1-15 on the season, 1-2 in the NEAC. D'Youville, which entered as a co-leader in the league with Cazenovia, fell to 13-9, 4-2.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Chris Jeffries put in a rebound layup just before the final buzzer to give No. 4 Washington U. a 65-63 victory over host No. 22 Rochester at the Palestra on Sunday. Matt Tabash drove the length of the court and his eight-footer in the lane missed. Jeffries grabbed the rebound just under the rim and laid it back in.

UR's Jeff Joss banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing with 6.2 seconds left, tying the score at 63-63. It capped off a Yellowjacket rally that saw UR fight back from a 62-57 deficit in the last 38 seconds.

"With only six seconds left, we wanted the point guard to run the floor and make a decision," said Washington coach Mark Edwards.

The Bears capitalized on cold UR shooting in the first half to take a 30-17 lead at the break.

UR (16-4, 7-2) cut the lead to four twice midway through the second half, the last time on two free throws by Seth Hauben (40-36). Joel Parrott hit a 3-point goal for Washington (19-1, 9-0) and Dustin Tylka made one free throw, extending the lead to 44-36 with 8:57 left.

Brian Jones and Makedo Wisseh scored four points apiece as UR drew within 46-44 with 4:50 left. Jeffries scored five points and Parrott drained a 3-pointer from the right corner for a 55-46 lead with 3:55 left.

Tabash made two free throws with 38 seconds left for a 62-57 lead. UR's Tim Sweeney sank a 3-point goal from the top of the key with 14 seconds to go, cutting the Washington lead to 62-60. Tylka made the first of two free throws with 13 seconds left, setting up the Joss basket and the final sequence.

In the women's game, Lesley Hawley came off the bench to score 20 points in 22 minutes as top-ranked Washington survived a scare at the Palestra. The Bears, who led by as much as eight in the first half, never pulled away.

Washington's biggest second half lead was five points, the last time with 2:02 left when Hawley hit a jumper for a 60-55 lead. Sarah Sullivan sank a 3-pointer from right wing for UR, cutting the lead to 60-58 with 1:43 left.

Hallie Hutchens hit a jumper for Washington, but Erika Smith's jumper with 1:06 left pulled UR within 62-60. Washington lost the ball on a shot clock violation with 31 seconds left, giving UR the last shot.

The Yellowjackets couldn't get a wide-open look and Jen LaBuda's 3-pointer from the right side of the key bounced off the left side of the rim just before the final buzzer.

UR (12-7, 4-5) built a four-point lead twice in the second half, the last time at 42-38 with 11:05 left on LaBuda's 3-pointer. Erika Smith led UR with 16 points and four assists. Tara Carrozza added 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench.

Washington (20-0, 9-0) has won 31 consecutive games, dating back to last season.

By Pat Coleman,
D3hoops.com

VIRGINIA BEACH – Virginia Wesleyan couldn't have asked for a better script as they celebrated the grand opening of the Jane P. Batten Center by rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat No. 5 Randolph-Macon 65-64.

Down 59-47 with 8:18 left in the game, the Marlins (13-9, 11-4 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) rode the back of junior backup forward Donnell Hammonds, who scored nine of his 13 points and found a pair of teammates open for 3-pointers as Virginia Wesleyan stormed into the lead with an 18-3 run and held off Randolph-Macon.

"Down the stretch, Donnell's ability to score inside gave our team a huge boost," said head coach David Macedo. "The second half is probably the best half I've seen him play."

"I pride myself on being a team player," said Hammonds, who came off the bench today after starting each of the last nine games he'd played in. "It's not who starts the game but who finishes."

Randolph-Macon had a chance to finish with 2.1 seconds remaining, but senior forward Marshall Rumney missed a pair of free throws and Hammonds controlled the rebound, allowing the clock to run out.

"It wasn't Marshall's two foul shots that lost it, it was all the other ones," said Randolph-Macon head coach Mike Rhoades. His Yellow Jackets (18-4, 13-2) shot 11-for-23 from the line for the game. "You can't beat good teams when you shoot like that from the foul line." Full story.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. – Lakeland senior guard Jill Dewane scored 24 points Saturday afternoon, becoming the first to break the 2,000-point plateau in the 2001-02 season and setting Lakeland's all-time scoring record.

She reached the milestone midway through the second half and later surpassed current Muskie Hall of Famer, John Koslowski, who scored 2,008 points during his career in the early 1980's. Last week Dewane surpassed women's basketball legend and Hall of Famer, Stacey Urbas-Pieper, who scored 1,948 points during her career in the late 1980's. Dewane now has 2,009 points for her career. She needs 78 points in her final three regular-season games, plus at least one in the Lake Michigan Conference tournament, to reach Division III's Top 25 in scoring.

Lakeland defeated Maranatha Baptist Bible 69-43 to improve to 21-1.

CLINTON, Miss. – Ozarks visited Mississippi College on Saturday hoping to gain a tie for first place in the American Southwest Conference Eastern Division but left not knowing what hit them as the Choctaws dominated the game from start to finish and ran away with a 96-63 win.

The Choctaws entered the game in first place in the division and showed why as they raced to a 49-25 halftime lead over the visiting Eagles. MC was led in the first half by junior forward Tracy Phillips as he scored 15 points making all seven of his shot attempts.

The team shot an amazing 80% from the floor in the first half making 16 of 20 shots.

The second half would be a repeat of the first as the Choctaws made 12 of 16 shots to open the half and held a 73-35 lead with 12 minutes to go in the game. Head coach Mike Jones, who recently announced he would reture at the end of the season, had his team run down the shot clock the rest of the way.

"We were very patient and did as good a job executing our offense as we have all year", Jones said. "Our guys are playing hard and starting to gel offensively at just the right time of year. Hopefully we can build on what we accomplished tonight."

High scorers for the game were Phillips with 17 and senior forward Karlos Fairley who also finished with 17. Fairley also pulled down 9 rebounds as MC (16-2) dominated Ozarks on the boards by a 32-20 rebounding advantage. Leading the way for Ozarks (12-8) was Brent Johnson who finished the night with 13 points. Mandrell Howell and Brent Gibbs also managed to score in double figures.

The Choctaws finished the game shooting an astounding 71% from the field on 34-for-38 shooting.

LEWISTON, Maine – Senior guard Kate Dockery (left) hit two free throws with six-tenths of a second left on the clock tonight to give host Bates a 56-54 New England Small College Athletic Conference victory against visiting Bowdoin. Bowdoin entered the game ranked No. 2 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 and was one of three undefeated teams in Division III.

Bates (13-4, 3-1 NESCAC) led for the entire first half thanks to 11 points from junior forward Carla Flaherty, who hit five of eight shots from the floor. The Bobcats led by as many as 10 points at 25-15 on Flaherty's three-point play with 3:12 on the clock, but Bowdoin (15-1, 4-1) scored the final five points of the stanza on a 3-pointer by senior Jessie Mayol and a pair of free throws by junior forward Kristi Royer.

Flaherty hit a 3-pointer to open the second half to gave Bates a 28-20 lead. The Polar Bears answered with a 14-6 run over the next eight minutes, tying the game on a trifecta from sophomore Lora Trenkle with 12:12 on the clock and taking their first lead on the only hoop of the game from sophomore Courtney Trotta. An assist from Royer to Mayol gave the Polar Bears their biggest lead of the game at 40-36.

The Bobcats scored the next six points to go up by two, 42-40, on a hoop by rookie Olivia Zurek that just beat the shot clock. Mayol was fouled taking a 3-pointer on Bowdoin's next possession, but missed the third free throw that would have given the Polar Bears the lead. A Flaherty 3-ball and a hoops from junior Lisa Golobski put the Bobcats back up by five, but Bowdoin answered again on a bucket by Alison Smith and three more free throws by Mayol. Zurek then scored five unanswered points, hitting a traditional three-point play with 3:57 on the clock to give Bates a 52-47.

Bowdoin did not go away, again answering the Bobcat run on a pick-and-roll from Mayol to Royer and another Mayol trifecta, tying the game at 52-52 with 2:45 on the clock. Dockery put the Bobcats up 54-52 on an assist from Flaherty with 1:43 left. After a pair of missed shots by the Polar Bears and a turnover and a miss by Bates, Mayol missed a 3-pointer with 22 ticks on the clock, but Bowdoin sophomore Kristina Fugate got the offensive rebounds. The Polar Bears called timeout and called an isolation play for Trenkle, who took the ball strong to the hoop, scored and got fouled by Dockery. Trenkle then missed her only free throw of the evening. Flaherty got the rebound with six seconds left, dished the ball to Dockery, who drove the length of the floor and picked up the blocking foul on Trenkle with 0:00.6 on the clock. Dockery calmly sank both free throws to give the Bobcats the upset.

Flaherty led all players with a season-high 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Zurek had 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Golobski added seven points and four assists. Bates shot 40% from the floor and owned a 39-30 rebounding advantage.

Trenkle led Bowdoin with 16 points and five rebounds, while Royer had 12 points and Mayol 11. With the loss, Bowdoin sees its school-record 15 game winning streak snapped. Washington U. and Hardin-Simmons are the last two unbeatens in Division III, men or women.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Junior forward Jen Wozniak came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points and junior guard Nikki Kingston added 20 to lead the No. 6 King's women to a 77-65 victory over No. 19 Scranton in a crucial MAC Freedom Conference matchup in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 19-1 overall and assumed sole possession of first place in MAC Freedom play with a 9-1 mark. The victory also marked the Lady Monarchs' first-ever regular season sweep over Scranton. The Lady Royals, meanwhile, saw their six-game win streak come to an end while falling to 17-4 and 8-2 in league competition. Scranton's last loss was a 62-51 defeat at the hands of King's on Jan. 12.

The first half saw eight lead changes and four ties before Wozniak keyed a 16-7 run with eight of her 10 first half points as King's built a 35-24 lead with 0:59 left in the half.

Scranton would answer early in the second half with a 13-7 run when AnneMarie Russo's bucket brought the Lady Royals to within 42-40 at the 16:09 mark. King's would withstand the charge and countered with a 3-pointer and bucket by Jennie Orelli and another three-pointer by Kingston to take a 50-43 lead 14:05 remaining.

Scranton would claw back to within 57-53 with 8:01 left on a basket by Tara Gemmell, but the Lady Monarchs would again answer with a 9-2 spurt as Wozniak scored six points and Tiffini Varrasse chipped in with three more to push the King's advantage to 68-57 with 3:41 remaining. After Scranton came to within 72-63 on a Russo basket with 1:44 left, King's closed out the game with an 8-2 run thanks to a basket and two foul shots by Kingston.

The Lady Monarchs shot 52.8% (28-for-53) from the field and made 17 of 24 shots from the foul line. Scranton also shot well at a 45.3% (29-for-64) clip but struggled from 3-point range, at 3-for-15.

Wozniak added a team-high 10 rebounds to secure a double-double while Varrasse dished out nine assists to go along with her eight points and four steals. Russo was outstanding for Scranton with 24 points on 12-for-14 shooting with 11 rebounds while Eileen Webster chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Danni Hannon scored 22 points, 15 in the first half, and grabbed nine rebounds as No. 14 St. Benedict held off No. 23 Carleton 79-71 at West Gym on Saturday afternoon.

The Blazers (18-3, 15-3 MIAC) moved back into a first-place tie with the Knights (17-4, 15-3), along with St. Thomas, pending the Tommies game at Augsburg this afternoon. St. Benedict sweeps the season series from the Knights, who had their eight-game win streak snapped.

Karissa Kramer equaled her career-high with 20 points to pace Carleton. Cara Jones added 13 points, a career-high 11 rebounds and four assists. Linnea Engel added 12 points and six rebounds and Bethany Koehler added 10.

Northfield native Michelle Barlau tallied 18 points and six assist for St. Benedict. Ashley Brown canned four of seven 3-pointers, three during a crucial second-half stretch, for 12 points. Mia Peterson added 11 points and six rebounds.

The Blazers, who had lost their in their last two trips to West Gym, raced out to a 16-7 advantage, as Hannon tallied six point in the opening five minutes. Carleton battled back with one on a 8-0 run, six coming from Kramer. The Knights took their first lead of the game moments later on a spinning jumper in the lane by Koehler, the Blazers answered by outscoring the Knights 11-4 to end the half, with Leah Laurich draining consecutive 3-pointers to end the first 20 minutes.

The Blazers led the entire second half. After Koehler drained a 3-pointer to open the half, the Blazers tallied a Hannon 3-pointer, a Barlau drive and Peterson lay-up to lead, 46-35, with 17:44 left. Carleton answered with a 15-3 spurt, highlighted by Engel and Willette three-point plays. St. Benedict had an answer all afternoon, though, and got a Brown trey and Laurich jumper to bump the lead back six.

Carleton crawled back within two, 54-52, on four straight points from Engel, but a Peterson jumper, Hannon 3-pointer Kim Johnson jumper and two free throws gave the Blazers another 11-point advantage, 63-52, with 8:58 left. Carleton would get no closer than seven the rest of the way in losing for the first time at home this season.

Carleton committed only 12 turnovers compared to 16 for the Blazers. The rebounding was even at 42-42, marking only the fourth time in 21 games that Carleton hasn't outrebounded its opponent. The Knights did hold a 14-3 edge in second-chance points, but the Blazers used their deadly 3-point attack to beat the Knights for the second time this season, cashing in on 12 of 24 long-range attempts, compared to three of 15 for Carleton.

EMORY, Va. – Shooting better than 50% from 3-point range, the Emory & Henry women shot their way to an early lead against Eastern Mennonite on Saturday afternoon, and never looked back. E&H defeated Eastern Mennonite 99-40 to win their ninth in a row and 15th of their last 16.

As a team, the Wasps made 20 of 36 attempts from downtown, with Kelly Smith (left) pacing the offensive attack with her 7-for-9 performance from behind the arc. Smith finished as the game's leading scorer with 24 points.

Smith and six other E&H players combined for 20 3-pointers, tying the Division III record for 3s made in a game set by Cabrini in 56 attempts against Rosemont on Feb. 15, 1994.

Dawn Chewning, Amy Hensley, and Lauren Ellis all connected on three 3-pointers each, while Danielle Moore nailed two and Jenny Gibson collected one. The previous ODAC record for 3-pointers made in a game was 14, set by E&H in 1998.

AMHERST, Mass. – Trinity senior sharpshooter Colin Tabb drained a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the third overtime en route to a team-high 34 points as the visiting Bantams edged Amherst 110-107 in a marathon NESCAC men's basketball thriller Saturday afternoon at LeFrak Gymnasium. Junior forward Steve Zieja, who matched Tabb with a game-high 34 points for Amherst, had a chance to send the game into a fourth overtime on the ensuing possession, but sailed a last-ditch 3-point attempt off the back rim as time expired. The Jeffs fell to 13-5 overall and 2-3 in conference play with the loss, while Trinity improved to 13-4, 4-1.

Tabb was hot right from the opening tip, scoring Trinity's first 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including consecutive 3-pointers 2:53 into the contest. Trailing 23-12, Amherst senior guard Pat Taverna came off the bench and held Tabb to just three points for the rest of the half, while the Jeffs mounted a 16-2 run to overtake the Bantams. Freshman forward Andrew Schiel capped the barrage with a nifty over-the-shoulder lay-in and a long-range trifecta as part of his career-high 22 points, giving the Jeffs a 28-25 lead with 8:03 left before the break.

Four more lead changes ensued before halftime, and Schiel hit yet another 3-pointer to give Amherst its largest lead of the period, 42-38, with 2:32 remaining. The two teams then traded buckets over the next two minutes before Trinity senior forward Bryan Dion knotted the score at 44-44 with a three-point play, and Tabb put the Bantams ahead with a free throw with 20 seconds left. Not to be outdone, sophomore guard John Donovan nailed a mid-range floater to give the Jeffs a 46-45 lead at the break. Amherst shot a scoring 52.9% (18-for-34) in the first half, including 7-for-12 from 3-point range.

The second half followed suit as a bevy of ties and lead changes set the stage for a dramatic game-tying 3-pointer by Trinity rookie John Halas. After Amherst took a 78-75 lead on a layup by junior center Pat Fitzsimons with just 13 seconds left in regulation, Tabb tried to knot the score from behind the 3-point arc but was stripped by Taverna. In the midst of a scrum Taverna was whistled for traveling, however, giving the Bantams one last chance to send the game into overtime. Halas responded with a bomb from the top of the arc with two seconds remaining to tie the score at 78-78.

Trinity came from behind once again in the first overtime when, trailing by two points with 34 seconds left, junior forward Ryan Uszenski sent the game into a second extra session with a driving layup off a give-and-go feed from senior guard Matt Jones. It was Amherst's turn in the second overtime as Zieja rained a 3-pointer from the right corner to knot the score at 95-95, sending the game into a third extra session.

The third and final overtime wasn't without its heroics either as Halas put the Bantams up 107-104 with his third 3-pointer of the game with 1:18 remaining. Zieja answered yet again with a 3-pointer that hit the rim, then the backboard, and grazed the rim again before falling through to tie the score at 107-107 with 25 seconds left. After Tabb's 3-pointer gave Trinity a seemingly insurmountable 110-107 lead with just three seconds on the clock, the Jeffs got a decent look before Zieja's desperation attempt narrowly missed its mark.

In all, nine players scored in double figures, including five for Trinity. Aside from Tabb's 34-point outburst, Dion chipped in with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Uszenski, Halas, and freshman forward Darren Baker added 19, 16 and 11 points respectively.

For Amherst, Fitzsimons joined Zieja and Schiel in double figures with 26 points and 17 rebounds. Donovan finished with 13 points on the strength of an 8-for-11 showing from the charity stripe.

DE PERE, Wis. – St. Norbert wrapped up an outright Midwest Conference championship and home-court advantage for the MWC Tournament with an 81-55 win over Knox at Schuldes Sports Center. The No. 20 Green Knights won their second MWC title, their first since 1984, and have won 17 of their last 18 MWC games. St. Norbert will host the MWC Tournament, its first men's basketball postseason action on its home floor since 1961, on Feb. 22-23.

St. Norbert used an 18-0 run in the first half to open up a 30-11 lead late in the first half. Knox rallied to within seven before St. Norbert went up 38-27 at halftime. The Prairie Fire got to within 56-48 with 9:38 left in the game, but St. Norbert went on a 13-2 run to close out the game. St. Norbert held Knox to just six rebounds in the second half.

The Green Knights (17-3, 13-0 MWC) shot 61% from the floor in the second half and 52% for the game. Nathan Hoffmann scored 24 points to lead all scorers, and also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Matt Roherty had 15 points and Drew Demerath 10 for St. Norbert, while teammate Jodi Ulrich added six points and eight assists.

Knox (4-16, 3-10) was led by Victor Garcia's 21 points, while Reggie Bowman added 15.

NEWBERG, Ore. – Becky Thompson scored seven points in overtime, including a three-point play to open the extra period that put George Fox ahead for good, and the No. 21 Bruins went on to a 62-55 win over No. 22 Pacific Lutheran, moving into first place in the Northwest Conference women's race Friday night at the Wheeler Sports Center.

The two nationally ranked teams entered the evening in a virtual deadlock for first place, although the Lutes had the edge in percentage points. With the victory, avenging a 51-45 setback in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 5, the Bruins improved to 19-2 overall and 10-2 in the conference with their fifth consecutive win. The Lutes saw their own four-game streak snapped and fell to 14-3, 8-2.

Darby Cave got the Bruins off and running with eight points in the game's first nine minutes, and George Fox was able to mount a 10-point lead at 17-7 on a Nicole Prazeau jumper with 7:59 left in the half. The Bruins maintained the lead up to the halftime, going into the break with a 26-20 lead.

PLU, after shooting only 26.7% (8-for-30) in the first half, went on a 12-4 run to open the second half to take a 32-30 lead with 17:07 left. The game seesawed back and forth thereafter, with six ties and 11 lead changes. Cave hit three baskets in a row to put George Fox up 47-42 with 4:35 to go, only to have the Lutes respond with an 8-3 run to tie it at 50-50 and send it into overtime. Jessica Iserman hit three shots in that run, her last one a hook that knotted the score at with 41 seconds left.

Thompson broke the tie with her three-point play at 4:33 in the overtime and Prazeau hit a pair of free throws at 3:58, giving the Bruins a five-point lead at 55-50. Prazeau made another free throw and Thompson two in the final 19 seconds to seal the win.

Cave and Prazeau led all scorers with 18 apiece, the only Bruins in double figures. Prazeau grabbed nine rebounds and Amy Fitch eight as the Bruins won the rebounding battle 43-40. George Fox hit 15 of 19 free throws (78.9%), while the defense held the Lutes to only 31.9% shooting (22-for-69) from the field.

Iserman led the Lutes with 15 points, Jamie Keatts added 13, and Becky Franza scored 11. Iserman and Courtney Johnson had 10 rebounds each, and Johnson, third in Division III in blocked shots, rejected six. PLU struggled from the charity stripe, going 7-for-15 (46.7%).

CLEVELAND – The No. 15 NYU women defeated host No. 17 Case Western Reserve 67-64 on Friday night. After falling 66-58 last Sunday to Case Western Reserve at home, NYU (16-3) bounced back to even the score and even each team's UAA record at 5-3.

NYU junior Allison Herman registered 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Senior Dari Magyar added 13 points and three assists, while senior Meg Barber posted 12 and six rebounds.

After leading by 15 points (61-46) with 6:40 remaining in the contest, Spartan junior Liz Hanschen hit a free throw to cut the lead to one point with 26 seconds remaining. Two Barber free throws with 18 seconds left in the game sealed the Violet victory. Sophomore Jasmine Rowan led the Spartans (14-4) with 16 points.