PITTSBURGH – Cobie Barnes and
Greg Jenkins led the way with 19 points each and the Pomeroys had a driving lay-up as the horn sounded which glanced off the rim as they narrowly fell 76-75 to No. 17 Point Park in the Championship Game of the River States Conference Tournament.
SMWC fell to 25-6 on the season and saw its 11-game winning streak come to an end. Saint Mary-of-the-Woods now advances to the NAIA National Tournament which begins on Friday, March 15. It is the first time a Pomeroy men's team has advanced to a NAIA National Tournament. The NAIA National Tournament selection show will be held this Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m. (ET) and will be broadcast live on Youtube.com.
The 25 wins are a school record after The Woods went 17-1 during the regular season in conference play. After being picked to finish last in the preseason poll, first-year head coach
Jesse McClung was named the River States Conference Coach of the Year on Monday evening.
Barnes finished the game with 19 points and four rebounds while Jenkins added 19 points and seven rebounds. Barnes earlier in the week was named the River States Conference Player & Newcomer of the Year as well as an All-RSC First Team member.
The Pomeroys hit 41.7 percent of their shots from the field and converted 10 Point Park turnovers into 10 points while also scoring 13 second chance points in the game.
Just as in the first half, the Pomeroys began the second strong with buckets on their first two possessions to stretch a six-point halftime lead back to double digits on jumpers from Jenkins and Barnes for the 47-37 lead. Jenkins drove into the lane for a lay-up with 17:13 remaining which stretch the lead out to 53-42, but the Pioneers scored on back-to-back trips to cut the SMWC lead down to 53-46. Again Point Park cut the lead down to six points, before Barnes drilled a turnaround jumper in the lane to stretch to 56-48. A 3-pointer and a layup from the Pioneers made it closer as the clock reached the 13 minute mark with SMWC still leading 56-53.
Jalen Stamps made it a 7-0 run for the Pioneers to draw within 56-55 of the Pomeroys out of a SMWC timeout. A Stamps trifecta gave Park Point a brief lead before Birchfield stepped with 11:32 remaining to push the Pomeroys back ahead at 59-58. Birchfield kept the personal run going with a pair of charity tosses as the second half neared the midway point to make it 61-58. The Pioneers would go onto score the next seven points before a pull up jumper from Merriweather followed by another from Jenkins knotted the game at 65. Trailing 70-65,
Greg Johnson hit a jumper in the paint with 5:45 on the clock to get within three points.
SMWC got a conventional 3-point play from Jenkins with 1:10 remaining to trim the deficit down to 76-73. After a defensive stop, Jenkins went the length of the court and laid the ball in to get within a point at 76-75 with 38 seconds remaining. The defense held as they forced the third Pioneer shot clock violation in the final five minutes of the contest and Jenkins had a driving lay-up at the buzzer which rolled around the rim and off to end the game.
With just under seven minutes to go, Stamps connected on another 3-pointer to stake the Pioneers back to a 68-65 lead.
Barnes scored on the Pomeroys first two trips down the floor to take a quick 4-0 lead out the gate. After Point Park came back to take a 9-6 advantage,
Greg Jenkins and
Greg Johnson each scored to push The Woods back ahead. Leading 21-17 at the midpoint of the opening stanza, the Poms went on an 8-0 run which was capped by a
Tarik Dixon jumper at the 8:53 mark to lead 29-17. Consecutive buckets by
Chaz Birchfield pushed the lead to double digits with 5:22 remaining as he drilled a 3-pointer to stake SMWC to a 33-23 advantage. As the clock ticked towards the three-minute mark, Jenkins would hit jumpers on consecutive trips and the Pomeroys led 40-29. The Pioneers would inch within six points but Dixon countered with a trifecta with 1:42 to go and Point Park answered on the next trip to send the teams into the half with SMWC leading 43-37. Jenkins paced SMWC with 10 points at the half.
