EVANSVILLE, Ind. – West Liberty All-American Bryce Butler poured in a game-high 32 points here Saturday but it wasn’t enough as unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Nova Southeastern held off the No. 5 Hilltoppers, 111-101, in a record-setting NCAA Division II national championship game at the Ford Center.
“Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed with the loss,” head coach Ben Howlett said, “but I’m incredibly proud of this team. A lot of things didn’t go our way today but they never quit and absolutely played to the final horn.”
The hot-shooting Sharks (36-0) used an early second-half surge to open up a double-digit lead and appeared in total control after a short jumper from Kobe Rodgers gave Nova Southeastern its largest lead of the game, 98-81, with less than six minutes to play.
Butler, who scored 24 of his 32 points in the second half, and his West Liberty (33-4) teammates weren’t ready to run up the white flag. The 6-5 junior tipped in a WLU miss and followed that up with a coast-to-coast rim run in a 16-second span to send the Hilltoppers on the comeback trail.
Nova Southeastern point guard Dallas Graziani tried to stop the bleeding with a 3-point bomb, restoring a 16-point margin at 101-85 but a second-chance 3-pointer from Zach Rasile keyed an 8-0 West Liberty run, capped by a driving layup from Rasile that trimmed the margin to 101-93 with just under three minutes to play.
The Hilltoppers continued to chip away at the deficit but soon found themselves running out of time. A Butler bonus bomb made it a two-possession game, 106-101, with 29 seconds left but the Sharks went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe the rest of the way to close out the win.
“We got off to a bad start and did some things that are pretty uncharacteristic of us in the first few minutes so we spent most of the first half digging ourselves out of a hole,” Howlett said. “We had cut (the lead) down to four points but they hit a three just ahead of the horn to go up seven (55-48) at the half and I thought that gave them a big boost.”
West Liberty also found itself battling foul problems for the second straight game in Evansville. Sophomore forward Ben Sarson was whistled for what was ruled a “Flagrant 2” foul, which carries an automatic ejection just two minutes into the second half. Senior guard Malik McKinney picked up his fifth foul on a charging call with 9:21 to play, leaving WLU a bit short-handed down the stretch.
An NCAA Division II Elite Eight championship game record 52 personal fouls were whistled during the 40-minute contest, resulting in a record combined 65 free throw attempts. Nova Southeastern converted 29-of-39 charity tosses while the Hilltoppers went 19-of-26 from the stripe.
“Nova Southeastern is a very good basketball team,” Howlett said. “They have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket. The difference in the game today was we just couldn’t get enough (defensive) stops when we needed them.”
Butler hit 11-of-19 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 from the 3-point arc, and went 7-of-14 from the foul line, finishing with 32 points and 9 rebounds – both game-highs. Christian Montague had another strong game for WLU with 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Rasile and Steve Cannady added 11 points each while Chaz Hinds rounded out the Hilltoppers’ double-figure scorers with 10 points.
The Sharks got 31 points and 8 rebounds from former Hilltopper Will Yoakum while All-American R.J. Sunahara added 28 points and 9 boards before fouling out. Graziani also impressed with 24 points and a game-high 9 assists. Yoakum, Sunahara and Graziani were named to the Elite Eight All-Tournament Team along with Butler and Joel Scott of Black Hills State.
“We came to Evansville looking for a national championship,” Howlett said. “It didn’t happen for us this year but after coming this close, it’s ignited a fire in me and our players. We’ll be back.”
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NOTEBOOK
x Butler passed current Chaminade head coach Eric Bovaird for 10th place on WLU’s scoring list on Saturday. The 6-5 junior now has 1,913 career points
x West Liberty set an Elite Eight championship game record with 16 3-point field goals
x Nova Southeastern’s 111 points are the most ever scored in an Elite Eight championship game
x West Liberty’s 101 points are the second-most ever scored in an Elite Eight championship game
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