|
Sunday, March 06, 2011 by Eddie Anderson |
Print
Email
RSS
Share
Uniontown, PA - Both teams in the 2011 USCAA Men’s Division I Basketball National Championship held in Uniontown, Pennsylvania Saturday night shot 24 of 55 from the field. The final score of 83-67 however, fell in favor of Southern Virginia University who shot a phenomenal 9-22 from three-point range. With the loss, Ave Maria finishes as the USCAA’s National Runner-up and concluded their season with a 16-17 overall record.
The Gyrenes traded basket for basket with the Knights during the first half and eventually led 25-21 with 6:56 remaining, but that lead would slowly slip away. SVU’s Derek Cutler was fouled and converted a pair of free throws to put the Knights up 26-25 at 5:01 left in the half and spark a 10-3 SVU run. Cutler hit a three-pointer with 1:48 on the clock to give the Knights their largest lead in the first half, 36-26. AMU’s Kiel Lewis answered with a layup, to put AMU within eight points but they failed to score on back-to-back possessions and entered the locker room down 36-28.
Lewis, recently named a USCAA All-American, carried the Gyrenes in the first half going 6-10 from the field for 13 points. He went on to lead all scorers in the game with 24 points on 9-15 shooting and 6-8 at the line. Anders Jacobson, Isaac Jacobson, and Derek Cutler accounted for 24 of SVU’s 36 points in the first half.
The Knights came out of the gate in second half to hit a three pointer and convert a layup to increase their lead to 43-28 just two minutes into the half. Ave Maria’s Marc Rozanski broke the dry spell with a made free throw, but seconds later the Knights made back-to-back three-pointers to lead by 20.
With 7:59 left on the clock, Lewis pulled down a defensive rebound and made a full court pass to Torney who converted the fast break layup. Then, after a missed three-point shot by SVU’s Anders Jacobson, Rozanski grabbed the rebound and was fouled to go to the line. Rozanski made one of two free throws, and Southern Virginia’s lead was cut down to 12 points (65-53) with 7:24 left. This was as close as the Gyrenes would get for the remainder of the game as the Knight’s used the clock and maintained the lead. There were only 14 turnovers in the game. SVU turned it over just 5 times, while the Gyrenes turned it over 9 times.
Kiel Lewis and Jimmy Torney were named to the All-Tournament team. Torney finished with 9 points and 11 rebounds. Marc Rozanski, USCAA All-American Honorable Mention, played all 40 minutes and scored 13 points with 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Dylan Fugate, also named All-American Honorable Mention, scored 8 points with 6 rebounds after suffering a minor ankle injury in the previous night’s game.
AMU's Tyler Cutrer and Chris Scanlan each scored 5 points, and Matt Chattin scored 3. Ave Maria didn’t have an answer for the Jacobson brothers, Anders and Isaac, who collectively scored 38 points and connected on 6 of 10 three-point shots.
Tournament MVP, Anders Jacobson scored 20 points. Isaac Jacobson finished with 18 points and 6 rebounds, and Derek Cutler scored 17 points with 9 rebounds. All-American Spencer Briggs scored 10 points with 7 rebounds.
Congratulations to the Ave Maria University Men’s Basketball Team for a strong run at the USCAA national title.
~ GO GYRENES ~
