ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Ind. – The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods men's basketball team used a strong late second half effort to earn a 74-64 victory over visiting Shawnee State in front of a packed house inside the Knoerle Center on Saturday afternoon.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods extended their winning streak to 11 games and improved to 25-5 on the season – both of which are school records. The Pomeroys who finished second in the league during the regular season will advance to the NAIA National Tournament – the first-ever NAIA national berth for a men's program in school history.
No. 2 SMWC will now head to Point Park for the River States Conference Championship Game on Tuesday, March 5. Point Park – the No. 1 seed in the tournament – picked up an 87-63 victory over West Virginia Tech on Saturday. Since Point Park won the regular season championship they have already earned an automatic qualifier into the NAIA National Tournament and with today's win over Shawnee State the Pomeroys have also earned an automatic qualifier into the tournament. The River States Conference receives two automatic bids one to the regular season champion and the other to the tournament champion or the tournament runner up if Point Park is the winner.
Chaz Birchfield went 7-of-11 from the field to score 17 points and lead the way for the Pomeroys. He added eight rebounds and two steals in the winning effort.
Tarik Dixon was 6-of-10 from the field to score 16 points while leading scorer
Cobie Barnes added 14 points. Dixon hit the lone two SMWC 3-pointers of the game.
The Pomeroys connected of 29-of-61 from the field for a shooting percentage of 47.5 and owned a dominating 44-27 edge in rebounding. The Pomeroys held a 16-5 edge in second chance points in the game.
Leading by six points, Barnes hit the biggest bucket of the game with 50 seconds to go as he gathered the miss from Jenkins and put it through the basket to give The Woods a 70-64 lead. The SMWC defense would not allow another point as Birchfield hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to give The Woods a 74-64 victory.
Shawnee State scored four in a row as the clock ticked under 11 minutes remaining to cut the Pomeroys ' lead down to 54-53. Tupuola would score off the Dixon assist with 10:03 remaining to restore a 56-53 advantage. The Pomeroys' defense then forced a shot clock violation to regain possession. With the score knotted,
Greg Jenkins converted a second chance opportunity as The Woods went ahead by a pair. After a defensive stop, Dixon hit a pair at the line and SMWC owned a 60-56 cushion. Tony Webb was whistled for a foul of
DaMeriz Merriweather on a 3-pointer and hit a pair to move ahead 62-56 with 6:41 to go. The defense continued to excel as they forced another shot clock violation to gain possession. Barnes was fouled as The Poms went into the double bonus and then Dixon added a fast break lay-up with 5:13 remaining to stretch the cushion back out to 66-56. Four in a row from the Bears cut the lead down to six, but Dixon hit a runner with 1:38 remaining to stretch the lead back out to 68-60.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods scored the game's first six points as
Chaz Birchfield,
Greg Johnson and
Cobie Barnes scored on the team's first three trips down the floor to stake the Pomeroys to a 6-0 lead. After a John Dawson 3-pointer for Shawnee cut the advantage in half, the Poms rattled off six more in a row and led 12-3 on a Johnson jumper with 16:22 on the clock. Shawnee State cut the lead down to 23-21 but
Tarik Dixon hit a 3-pointer which hit every part of the rim and then kept the run going with a steal and layup to extend the cushion out to 28-21. Then Shon Tupuloa made it a 7-0 spurt with a thunderous dunk at the 6:16 mark which stretch the advantage out to 30-21.
After Shawnee State took a timeout, Tre Beard connected on his second trifecta of the first half to get the Bears within six points but Birchfield had the answer for the Pomeroys on a second-chance opportunity to restore a 32-24 cushion. Birchfield got the lead back to double digits with a steal and dunk as the clock ticked under the four minute mark. Tupuola slammed home a dunk with 26 seconds remaining and the defense held on the final possession to send The Woods to the half up 42-34.
Tarik Dixon hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead the team with 10 points at the half. Beard paced Shawnee State through the first 20 minutes with 11.
The Pomeroys wasted no time extending their lead with a bucket on the first possession of the second half to restore a double-digit advantage. Five in a row for the Bears cut The Poms' lead in half before
Greg Johnson connected on a lay-up to restore the lead. As the clock ticked under the 15 minute mark, Beard went in double figures scoring with a pair of charity tosses to draw within a possession at 50-47.
St. Mary-of-the-Woods will travel to No. 1 Point Park for the RSC Conference Tournament Championship Game on Tuesday, March 5.
