Tuesday Conference Championship Recap: Saint Mary's Tops Gonzaga
Five more teams punched their tickets to the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday evening, all in thrilling fashion.
We saw five more teams secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday evening:
Coastal: Charleston
NEC: Wagner
Horizon: Oakland
WCC: Saint Mary’s
Summit: South Dakota State
The total field is up to 11 out of 68 thus far. For those of you sitting at home on the bubble, hang in there just a few more days, it’s been so far so good for you as the bid-steals have yet to strike gold.
Let’s breakdown the games from yesterday.
Wagner vs Merrimack
Merrimack won the 2023 NEC Tournament, however, due to NCAA Transition rules (you must wait four years once you have moved to Division 1 until you can play in the NCAA Tournament) they were ineligible, thus Fairleigh Dickinson took their place after finishing in second place. You may remember FDU had quite the run in the tournament last year as the 16 seed.
This year, Merrimack found themselves back in the NEC Finals, however, this go around it meant even more because it was their first year eligible for the tournament. Entering the game, Wagner was the 6 seed and Merrimack was the 2, so all things pointed towards the Warriors pulling this one out. However, Wagner said not so fast. In what was a back and forth game throughout the entire context, behind Tahron Allen’s 22 points and 7 rebounds, the Wagner Seahawks pulled through with a 54-47 victory to head to their first tournament appearance since 2003.
It wasn’t a great shooting performance for either team. Wagner shot just 2-15 from 3, however, they cleaned up inside the arch shooting 22-49 overall. For Merrimack, they shot just 29.8% overall and 26.3% from three. The Warriors attempted just 3 free throws compared to Wagner’s 14. It was not a great performance for Warriors.
Congratulations to the Wagner Seahawks who will be heading to Dayton as a 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament!
Oakland vs Milwaukee
The Horizon league tournament never disappoints, as so many teams are of equal talent levels. Every game is an absolute battle. In the finals on Tuesday evening, the 6 seeded Milwaukee battled it out against top seeded Oakland at the Farmer’s Coliseum in Indianapolis.
From the start, it was a back and forth game. In the first half, neither team led by more than 6 points and in the second half, neither team led by more than 5 points up until the final moments. The Oakland Grizzlies hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2011, while Milwaukee hasn’t appeared since 2014. Both teams put their heads down and charged through with one goal in mind, to break the tournament drought.
In the end, Oakland pulled through in an 83-76 victory thanks to Trey Townsend’s ridiculous 38 point, 11 rebound, 5 assist performance. This capped off what has been an incredible year for Townsend and the Grizzles who are going to be a problem for a first round team in the big dance. They are 23-11 on the season, with some close losses to excellent teams including: a six point loss to Ohio State, 9 point loss to #25 Illinois, 8 point loss to Drake, 1 point loss to Toledo, and a win over Xavier.
For Milwaukee, their season might not be over as their 20-15 record could help elevate them to a postseason tournament, such as, the CBI tournament.
Congratulations to the Grizzles!
Charleston vs Stony Brook
The Cinderella story of the Coastal Conference Tournament was by far Stony Brook who entered the championship game as a 7 seed, battling it out against top seeded Charleston. Charleston was in the midst of an 11 game winning streak, where they’d also won 13 out of their last 14. For Stony Brook, the Seawolves had won 6 out of their last 7, so again showing that all that matters is peaking at the right moment in the season.
The game was back and forth from the moment it started, with both teams exchanging the lead in the first half. Neither team led by more than 5 in the first half, with Stony Brook entering halftime with a 40-35 lead. Charleston came out firing in the second half, quickly regaining the lead and building a 9-point cushion thanks to a 14-2 run in the first 5 minutes.
Stony Brook clawed their way back into the game, but quickly fell to a seven point deficit where they staggered for several minutes. With 5 minutes remaining, the Seawovles were down 70-61, but Stony Brook turned it on. Aaron Clark made a three, then Dean Noll, Andre Snoddy, and Aaron Clark all stood their ground to tie it up at 73 a piece. Despite missed opportunities to take the lead in the final minute, neither team scored and we were headed to overtime.
Charleston got up 6 quickly in overtime, but Tyler Sephenson-Moore knocked down his 7th three of the contest to give Stony Brook their first points of the overtime period and pull them back within 3. Unfortunately for the Seawolves, they couldn’t overcome their shoot woes in overtime and succumbed to Charleston 82-79.
Charleston is now headed to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back years and their 3rd time in 6 years. It’s been quite the run for the Cougars who are entering the field of 68 with a 27-7 record, which should earn them a 13 seed give or take.
Congratulations to the Cougars, don’t count them out of being a bracket buster this year!
Gonzaga vs Saint Mary’s
All eyes were on the WCC Championship game in Las Vegas as #17 Gonzaga and #21 Saint Mary’s were battling it out for the WCC Title.
Saint Mary’s maintained control in the first half, never allowing Gonzaga to take the lead after being tied at 2-2 to begin the game. However, after being down as many as 11 at the 16:51 mark in the second half, the Zags started to claw their way back into it. The Bulldogs finally took their first lead of the game at the 7:42 mark with a one point lead, 52-51. Saint Mary’s quickly regained it and finished it off with a 69-60 victory to secure their 5th WCC Conference Title.
Aidan Mahaney led the way with 23 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal, while Mitchell Saxen posted a double-double with 19 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. For the Zags, Anton Watson and Ryan Nembhard led the way with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 13 points, 11 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals a piece.
Gonzaga finishes with a 25-7 record and Saint Mary’s with 26-7. The Gaels punch their ticket to March Madness automatically after last night’s win, and we will most likely be hearing Gonzaga’s name called this Sunday with an at-large bid to the tournament. While it’s been some what of an up-and-down season where we saw Gonzaga’s lengthy ranked streak end, with their performance in conference, in the conference tournament, and their win against Kentucky, my guess is that’s enough for the selection committee.
Denver vs South Dakota State
Denver was a Cinderella story for the Summit league after completing upsets over No. 2 seeded Kansas City & Omaha to make their way to the Summit League Championship. You may remember Tommy Bruner from earlier this season where he dropped 49 points against South Dakota in a double-overtime win. He later scored 41 in a a win over North Dakota State with no overtime periods. This guy is an absolute bucket who averaged 24 points a game this season.
Starting at the 10:52 mark, Denver went on a 15-4 run to get within 10 with 3 minutes to go. The Pioneers would get as close as 5 points with 58 seconds left, unfortunately it was just too large of a deficit to overcome. The Jack Rabbits punched their ticket to the big dance for the 5th time in 9 years with a 76-68 victory, finishing with a 22-12 record and securing their 6th Tournament Championship Title.
The Jackrabbits are a well rounded team. Last night, they had 5 players in double-digit points:
Luke Appel - 16/8/4
Zeke Mayo - 16/6/3
William Kyle III - 15/11/1
Matt Mims - 11/3/1
Kalen Garry - 11/4/4/2
This is all while losing Baylor Scheierman to Creighton, who is averaging 18.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists a game right now. Eric Henderson has done a phenomenal job building a dynasty in the Summit.
For Denver, I hope this isn’t the end of the season. We deserve to watch Tommy Bruner more, so fingers crossed for a potential CBI Bid.