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LeMoyne-Owen fights back to down Lane, 64-61, in SIAC men’s SIAC championship
March 8, 2009
by Lut Williams
Special to Onnidan.com
Fourth-seeded LeMoyne-Owen clawed back from a 12-point second half deficit to down third-seeded Lane 64-61 in a hard-fought SIAC men’s champion-ship game Sunday afternoon in Birmingham.
Few expected to see Lane and LeMoyne-Owen in Sunday’s finals. Rather, many thought it would be a battle of South Carolina schools pitting regular season champ Claflin and defending tournament champion and second seed Benedict, who split wins during the regular season.
Azeez Communications Photo
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| SIAC Commissioner Greg Moore (L) and HBCU Coaching Legend Jerry Johnson present Outstanding Coach Award to LOC's Edward Newton |
But after Lane knocked off second-seed Benedict in Saturday’s early men’s semifinal and Lane disposed of top seed Claflin in ovetime later that evening, the two Tennessee schools went at it in the 76th men’s tournament.
And in the end it was a gritty LeMoyne-Owen from Memphis, who won three tournament games en route to the title by a total of ten points, that prevailed over Lane from Jackson.
Lane (22-8) shot an efficient 55% (11 for 20) from the floor in the first half and held LeMoyne-Owen to 40% shooting (12 of 30) to lead 38-26 at the half. Nick Beauregard and Lincoln Blache each had 10 points at the break to lead the Dragons. Maurice Mickens had 7 to lead LeMoyne-Owen.
But LOC (17-13) opened the second half on a 16-4 run, to pull even at 42 with 13:46 left. After Lane responded with a 6-0 run to go back up 48-42, the Magicians made their final push, taking their first lead of the second half at 56-55 on a follow shot by Rashard Weathers with 4:45 left.
“We said at the half that we couldn’t play any worse, and they played the best basketball we’ve seen them play all year, and we were only down 12,” said victorious LOC head coach Edward Newton of his team’s first-half play. “As bad as we played, we should have been down 25 or 30 points.
“We were down seven with less than three minutes to go against Fort Valley the first night,” said Newton of his team’s quarterfinal victory. “(Down) Twelve points with 20 minutes to go is nothing. We’ve got the fight in us. We’ve been fighting all year.”
From there the teams exchanged the lead five times over the final stretch, the last time when tournament MVP Rasul Buluu canned two free throws with 45.9 seconds left to give LOC a 60-59 edge.
Ladirus Johnson’s two free throws put LOC up 62-59 with :22.3 to play before Lane’s Rodney Chatman drove the length of the floor and scored on a drive to cut the lead to 62-61 with :16.3 on the clock. Lane fouled immediately and LOC’s Greg Hill made one of two free throws with :15.9 left to push the lead to 63-61. Chatman again drove to the basket but missed and the Dragons sent Hill back to the line. This time he came up empty on two charity tosses with :6.6 left leaving Lane with one final chance.
Chatman’s foray into LOC territory however resulted in a steal and the Dragons fouled and sent Jihad Sharif to the line with a half-second left. Sharif made the first but missed the second for the final margin. Lane’s desperation heave at the final buzzer fell short.
“The coach always tells me that the team plays off my vibe,” said Buluu, who had 14 points and 5 rebounds in the final. “We just had to match their intensity. Our big time players stepped up and Calvin Stoudamire (little brother of NBA vet Amare) who averages just 2 points, got 10 points and some big stops. We got contributions from everybody. To me that’s everybody’s MVP trophy.”
Indeed Stoudemire’s 10 points off the bench were big as was junior starting point guard Maurice Mickens who led the Magicians with 17 points and six assists.
Beauregard had 13 points to lead Lane, a team coached by Ronald Abernathy that has no seniors. Chatman and Blache added 12 while Gregory Lott tallied 11 points and pulled down a team-high 7 rebounds.
LeMoyne-Owen will earn the conference’s automatic bid to the men’s South Region tournament as a result of its tourney title. They will be expected to join Claflin (24-3) and Benedict (24-5) in the region, who were ranked first and fourth prior to the tournament.
EXTRA PERIOD: Conference officials were in somewhat of a quandry Saturday night after Lane knocked off Benedict to earn a spot in Sunday’s final. Lane was put on NCAA probation in 2008 for a series of actions involving ineligible players. One of the sanctions was a prohibition from playing on television. With the men’s championship scheduled to be telecast on ESPNU Sunday, the conference made an appeal to have the ban lifted. However, the NCAA did not lift the ban and said Lane would face additional punishment if they played on television. As a result, the conference decided to forego televising the contest.
ALL TOURNAMENT
David Cobb, Claflin
Martinez Woody, Benedict
Rodney Chatman, Lane
Greg Hill, LeMoyne-Owen
Rasul Buluu, LeMoyne-Owen
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Rasul Buluu, LeMoyne-Owen
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