The second-seeded Anderson University men's basketball team advanced past third-seeded Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology by a score of 74-73 during Friday's Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament semifinal in Lexington, Ky.
Anderson (18-9) is slated to face top-seeded Transylvania University (19-8) in the HCAC Tournament Championship on Saturday at 6 p.m.
The first half was a back-and-forth game as the two teams had 18 lead changes and five ties in the first half. Rose-Hulman (17-10) held the biggest lead of four points in the first half. Bryce Williams hit a shot with three seconds left in the first half, giving the Ravens a 39-38 lead in the first half.
Rose-Hulman took a 42-39 lead in the first minute of the second half. The Ravens then put together a 7-0 run to take a 46-42 lead with 17 minutes, 13 seconds remaining. With 13:59 remaining, Rose-Hulman's Joey Schmitz drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 47-all. Kenney Troutman responded with a 3-pointer to take a 50-47 lead. Schmitz and Troutman traded baskets. Jack Jenniges tipped in a layup to Rose-Hulman's deficit to one point. Anderson then rattled off a 9-0 run with four points coming from Williams.
Rose-Hulman began to chip away at the lead. Throughout the game, there were 44 total lead changes. Christian Torres and Cole Pride each made tip-in layups cutting the deficit to 69-68 with 3:35 remaining. Williams and Torres each split a pair of free throws. Rob Davidson made a layup with 1:41 to go to put Anderson ahead 72-69. Torres made two free throws to trim the lead to one.
Following an Anderson turnover with 29 seconds remaining, the Fightin' Engineers had the opportunity to take the lead. Jackson Kochalka missed a 3-pointer, but Kobe Stoudemire got the rebound and made the layup to take a 73-72 lead with seven seconds remaining.
Without calling a timeout, the Ravens drove the length of the court. Williams took the ball to the right wing, opening space in the lane. DeMonte Ferguson found the open space in the lane and Williams dished the pass to Ferguson for a game-winning layup with 0.6 seconds remaining. Rose-Hulman fired a full-court heave with 0.1 seconds left, but the shot came up empty, sealing Anderson's HCAC Championship game berth.
"I'm really pleased with our ability to gut one out [on Friday]," Coach Carter Collins said. "Bryce and DeMonte connected on a great play to cap it as time expired. We'll need to be better [on Saturday], especially on the glass."
Rose-Hulman powered to a 45-29 rebounding advantage. The Fightin' Engineers held a 16-6 advantage on the offensive boards and outscored the Ravens 20-3 on second-chance points.
The Fightin' Engineers converted 27-of-67 (40.3 percent) shots from the floor while the Ravens knocked down 26-of-55 (47.3 percent) attempts from the floor. Rose-Hulman hit 10-of-31 (32.3 percent) attempts from 3-point range while Anderson drained 9-of-24 (37.5 percent) shots from the perimeter. The Ravens made 13-of-22 (59.1 percent) shots from the free-throw line while the Fightin' Engineers knocked down 9-of-12 (75 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.
Rose-Hulman committed 11 times while Anderson turned the ball over eight times. Despite finishing minus 3 in turnover margin, the Fightin' Engineers outscored the Ravens 13-10 off turnovers. Rose-Hulman also held a 4-0 advantage in fast-break points.
Troutman led the Ravens with 17 points. Williams provided 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Davidson tallied 13 points and converted 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) attempts from the floor. Elijah Mattingly notched 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Ferguson turned in nine points, two steals and one block. Nolan Swan rounded out the Anderson scoring effort with eight points and six assists.
Schmitz recorded a game-high 26 points for the Fightin' Engineers. Torres produced 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, while hitting 7-of-10 (70 percent) shots from the field. Price tallied 10 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and one block.