CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Fourth-seeded Concord University wiped out an early eight-point, second-half deficit and claimed its first-ever Mountain East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament championship with a 70-64 victory over sixth-seeded Notre Dame College here Sunday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center.
The win improves the Mountain Lions to 22-9 and ensures them a berth in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament which will begin play Saturday, March 12 at a site which will be announced late Sunday evening.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, finished the season with a 21-11 mark.
Both teams, who were playing their third game in three days, showed signs of sloppy play in the title contest. Concord turned the ball over 12 times in the first half and as a result found themselves trailing the Falcons by double figures on a few occasions.
In the second half, however, the Mountain Lions settled down, limited their miscues and switched to a zone defense to help control standout NDC senior guard Tyree Gaiter, who had scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in the opening half.
“It was a heckvua championship game,” Concord coach Kent McBride said. “Notre Dame jumped on us early and has us down double digits twice in the first half. I don't think either team played particularly well, but when you're playing your third game in less than 48 hours you're going to have some tired legs and you're going to make some bad decisions. Our message to the guys at halftime was stop making mistakes, stop throwing them the ball and stop giving them offensive rebounds. We will make a shot. The ball will go in the basket. We went 0-of-10 to start the game.
“Rob (Reed) made two big ones in a row for us to start the second half and everyone just seemed to have a huge sigh of relief at that point. Then we started playing. We switched to the zone and held them to 30 percent shooting in the second half. We had to because Gaiter was dictating everything for them in the first half. We had to find a way to neutralize him and it seemed to work.”
Notre Dame made its first two shots of the second half to open a 37-29 lead, but after that the Falcons hit just 10-of-38 field goals the rest of the way and Concord began mounting its comeback. The Mountain Lions controlled the glass in the second half to finish with a 43-38 advantage in the game on the boards and got themselves to the foul line 24 times in the final 20 minutes and converted on 19 of those chances.
“It was a helluva game because both teams played hard,” NDC coach Tim Koenig. “They just made a few more shots and a lot more free throws. We came in wanting to out-rebound them and we didn't get that done.
“It hurts I'm not going to lie, but we had a great ride and I'm elated for our guys and proud of them and our program for what we accomplished. Congrats to coach Kent McBride and the Concord players.”
Concord was able to control the glass thanks largely to the efforts of senior center Terry Hopewell and senior forward Jametrius Wade. Hopewell, an all-tournament selection, finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds and set the MEC record for total rebounds in a tournament with 41. Wade contributed 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“I came out focused, locked in and ready to play because I knew we needed to play hard because it was such a big game,” Hopewell said. “I told my team we're not going home without this championship.”
Concord also got 12 points from both Rob Reed and Michael Sanchez and 11 from Aaron Miller. Reed, who scored 10 of his 12 in the decisive second half, claimed Most Valuable Player honors for the tournament.
“It feels good, but I'm really glad we got the win,” Reed said. “This (MVP) is special too, but I'm sure it's based mostly on my performances the first two nights because I didn't shoot that well today. The whole team carried us today. My teammates allowed me to get this. I didn't get it on my own.”
Gaiter, who was an all-tournament team selection and claimed the Commissioner's Heart and Hustle Award, led the Falcons with 23 points and eight assists. He, however, was limited to just two points in the game's final 15 minutes.
“Sometimes you like halftime and sometimes you hate it,” Gaiter said. “Today was one of the days I hated halftime. It was tough on all of us. We tried to figure out ways to get it inside or kick it back outside. The tough part is most of the shots we had in the second half were open ones. They just didn't go down.”
Notre Dame also got 18 points and five rebounds from Kyauta Taylor and 13 points and seven boards from Will Vorhees. Both of those players were also selected to the all-tournament team.
MEC All-Tournament Team
Haywood Highsmith (Wheeling Jesuit)
Zac Grossenbacher (West Liberty)
Seger Bonifant (West Liberty)
Tyree Gaiter (Notre Dame)
KT Taylor (Notre Dame)
Will Vorhees (Notre Dame)
Terry Hopewell (Concord)
MVP -- Rob Reed (Concord)
Highest Scoring Average: Seger Bonifant (West Liberty, 32.5 ppg, 2 games)
Sportsmanship Award: Kyle Ritz (Wheeling Jesuit)
Commissioner's Heart and Hustle Award: Tyree Gaiter (Notre Dame)