While I will admit I got a late start to the festivities Friday night (Jan. 25), I quickly got caught up and now I am catching my breath.
In a matter of an hour, I – and the rest of those D3hoops.com die-hards – got a chance to witness the #1 and #2 teams in the men’s poll fight to remain on top, only to both trip and fall. There was Millsaps and Centre battling into OT to claim the top spot in the SCAC. And a number of other games were coming down to the end… all at the same time!
I started off by logging into the broadcast of the Chicago-Brandeis game with Chicago clinging to a small lead and not much time left. And talk about a crazy ending. Brandeis found some way to inch within two thanks to a huge three point shot from Andre Roberson. A quick foul sent Chicago’s Jake Pancratz to the line for two free throws and only 3.1 seconds left. But Pancratz would miss both FT’s and Brandeis was able to rebound the ball and call timeout without any time coming off the clock (home-team clock syndrome?!). But despite the play drawn up during the TO, Brandeis’ baseball pass down the court was tipped away by Chicago… and the Maroons pulled off the first big upset of the night – 79-77.
But I didn’t have time to savor that game, I had to quickly log off that broadcast and log into the #1 Rochester vs. Emory game, since the Eagles were leading Rochester late in the 2nd half of that game. And just like Chicago, Emory was clinging on to a small lead over the undefeated Yellowjackets. And what a finish to the second half.
Rochester with the ball… less than 10 seconds left… and Mike Chmielowiec would miss his attempt and it sounded like the game was over. But several refs whistles later and a conversation, 0.8 seconds were put back on the clock and Rochester had the ball. They really only had one choice – catch and shoot. Jeff Juron would inbound the ball and alley-oop the pass to Jon Onyiriuka would connect… and Onyiriuka’s shot would bounce around the rim before falling through – forcing OT.
But Emory was not phased. They would score the first four points of OT, force three fouls on Onyiriuka to foul him out of the game, and while the Yellowjackets would climb back to within one point several times, the Eagles stayed composed and eventually knocked off Rochester 81-76 – handing the #1 team in the nation it’s first loss and giving us what Rochester radio’s play-by-play’s J.C. DeLass called the biggest upset of the season.
And that wasn’t all the excitement on the D3hoops.com Scoreboard… in the SCAC, #14 Centre was taking on #18 Millsaps for the top spot in the conference. The game, which was at Centre and broadcast on D3hoopsnet, matched two one-loss teams in their only conference game of the season (thanks to the new division format in the SCAC). And it didn’t disappoint! Centre needed a near-buzzer beating shot from Thomas Britt to force OT on their home court (D3hoops.com’s Wes Anderson’s call on D3hoopsnet)!
And apparently that was the wake up call the Colonels needed as they easily dispatched Millsaps in OT to win 90-80, handing the Majors their second loss of the season and first in the SCAC.
So… three thrilling games in 45 minutes and I was looking for more. My heart was racing. The excitement and great games and close finishes was more like late February or March! But this was late January and now I was looking for another game to quench my thirst for some exciting basketball.
Only one problem, there was nothing left. Mainly because there were no other games with audio or video links… or it was just that time of night where there were simply no more games, I was out of luck.
So, I sat back and caught my breath. What a night! This is what makes Division III Basketball so great! So many games in so many places and so many ways to listen, watch, or peak in… and from now until March 2nd, it is only going to get better. And then we hit the NCAA Tournament, when it doesn’t get any better!
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