Western wins national basketball title
The Western Washington University men's basketball team won the NCAA Div. II national title Saturday, March 24, with a 72-65 victory over the University of Montevallo.
It is the first national title for the men's basketball team. The game was broadcast live across the nation on CBS. Highlights of the game are available online.
The Vikings were led by the 14 points of John Allen. Chris Mitchell had 13 points and Zach Henifin 12. Henifin fouled out with a couple minutes to go and had to watch the game's tense ending from the bench.
Western led by 12 with 6 minutes to go, but a strong comeback by Montevallo cut the lead to 4, 68-64, with just 58 seconds to go. Four free throws by Allen in the last minute sealed the victory for the Vikings.
"I'm very proud of our players, very excited for them," said WWU coach Brad Jackson (27th year). "They've worked very hard, they've maintained their focus throughout the year. They came here believing they could accomplish this."
WWU held a 33-26 lead early in the second half before Montevallo hit seven straight shots from the field to go on a 14-2 run and take a 40-35 lead with 15:20 to play.
But the Vikings immediately responded with a run of their own, putting together a 14-4 charge in less than five minutes to go ahead, 49-44, with 10 minutes left, and eventually extending the margin to 61-49 on a three-pointer by Paul Jones with 6:19 left.
"They had not shot it well the whole tournament and tonight they shot it really well," said Montevallo coach Danny Young of WWU's hot stretch. "It got to be one time there when they were really rolling, even if you had your hand up it didn't matter. It was going in."
Forward Zach Henifin and center Chris Mitchell played a key role in building the lead, combining for 20 of WWU's first 26 points of the second half.
The Vikings, who shot 54 percent (27-of-50) from the field, led the rest of the way. Montevallo pulled to within four on a free throw by Antoine Davis, who finished with 16 points, with 58.3 seconds left, but got no closer.
"We've had other teams that had a lot of blowout wins, and we didn't have many of those this year," said Jackson, who claimed his 500th career victory earlier this season. "But we were good down the stretch of games, and it built a lot of confidence that we could get the job done."
Mitchell finished 13 points, Henifin had 12. Jones and guard Richard Woodworth each had 10 points, and forward Rory Blanche added nine. Woodworth also had team-highs of nine rebounds and four assists.
"(Montevallo) is a tremendous team with tremendous athletes," Woodworth said. "They made a run or two, but our guys never got down, we still had confidence and really felt we were going to pull it out."
The first half was tightly contested, with no lead larger than five points. Montevallo held a 23-21 lead after a Rivera three-pointer with 6:21 left in the period, but the Vikings held the Falcons without a field goal the rest of the half and took a 30-26 lead at halftime after a jumper by Rico Wilkins at the buzzer.
In all, the contest featured 16 lead changes, 12 in the first half, and five ties.
WWU held an opponent under 41 percent field goal shooting for the fifth straight game, as Montevallo shot just 37.5 percent (24-of-64) from the floor. The Falcons did have a 39-35 advantage in rebounds, grabbing 20 of their boards at the offensive end.
"We just couldn't get anything going," said Young. "We got a lot of attempts at the basket from five feet away and couldn't put it in the hole. (Western) played great, they deserve all the credit. That's just how it went."
It was just the second trip to the NCAA II Elite Eight for the Vikings, who reached the national semifinals in 2001. It was, however, the fourth straight time a West Region representative played in the championship contest. Cal Poly Pomona reached the title game in 2009 and won it in 2010, and BYU-Hawaii reached the final last season.
The championship is the first NCAA basketball title at any level for a school from the state of Washington since University of Puget Sound won the NCAA II title in 1976.
Western finishes the season with a 31-5 record. The 31 victories are a school record and their 17 home wins (17-1) are a program best. WWU won 28 games in 1987-88, taking the NAIA District 1 title and reaching the second round at nationals.
Montevallo, ranked No. 22 nationally, finishes the year at 29-8 overall. The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak.
Montevallo was led by the 20 points of DJ Rivera and the 16 points of Antoine Davis.
The Falcons made their seventh NCAA II tournament appearance in the last nine seasons; it was their third trip to the Elite Eight, losing in the quarterfinals in 2006 and 2007. Montevallo was the Southeast Region champion and won the Peach Belt Conference title (12-5).
The victory was the 518th for coach Brad Jackson, who finishes his 27th season at the school in style. Named this season's NABC West District and GNAC Coach of the Year, he is the most successful men's basketball coach in school history, both in total wins (518-279) and winning percentage (.650). Prior to this season, Jackson ranked No.13 among active NCAA II coaches in victories.
Jackson has directed the Vikings to 20 post-season appearances and 12 20-win seasons during his tenure. WWU reached the regional semifinals in 2010, losing 76-75 in overtime to eventual national champion Cal Poly Pomona.
Jackson is one of 10 finalists for the 2012 Clarence "Big House" Gaines Division II Coach of the Year award. The winner will be announced March 30 at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet at New Orleans, the site of the DI men's basketball NCAA Championship.
WWU has won seven of eight games this season against teams ranked in the NCAA II Top 25 at the time. Two of the victories were over Alaska Anchorage (No.8 and No.17) and one each against Seattle Pacific (No.24), BYU Hawaii (No.3), Rollins FL (No.10), Midwestern State TX (No.5) in the Elite Eight quarterfinals and Montevallo AL (No.22) in the title game. The Vikings' lone loss was to Alabama Huntsville (No.18), which reached the Elite Eight quarterfinals as the South Region champion.
For more information about Western's run to the national title, visit the WWU Athletics website.
Welcome-home celebration: The team plane will land at Bellingham International Airport at roughly 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 25. But because parking lots at the airport are full due to spring break, there will not be a welcome home celebration at the airport for the men's basketball team as previously planned. Instead, the team will receive a police escort from the airport and through downtown before proceeding to campus for the welcome-home celebration. The bus will unload in the parking lot behind the SMATE building, which is where fans will gather to greet the team. The bus is expected to arrive on campus at approximately 2:15 p.m. Parking lots at Western will be open with free parking for the welcome home event.
This story is compiled from reports by WWU Athletics and Western Today editor Matthew Anderson.
