The Anchormen took down the Panthers 75-59 to earn a spot in the Sweet 16.
The Rhode Island College Anchormen basketball team began writing the script for the biggest Cinderella story in the tournament, upsetting the heavily favored Middlebury College Panthers 75-59 in the second round of the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament on Sat., Mar. 8.
"It feels pretty good to be in the Sweet 16; this team has come such a long way since December. We just have a bunch of really talented players, everybody knows that. We've just learned to trust each other, and believe in each other, and we played terrific tonight. We have had a lot of wins since I've been at Rhode Island College, and I don't know if there's been one better than this," said RIC Head Coach Bob Walsh in a postgame interview with RIC Radio WXIN.
RIC junior guard Antone Gray continued his stellar play in the NCAA tournament, finishing with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists, while fellow starters junior Nick Manson (11 points) and sophomore forward Mason Choice (10 points, five boards and five assists) scored in double digits, as well.
The decisive factor in the Anchormen's victory was the scoring off the bench from junior forward Carl Lee and sophomore center Mike Akinrola. Lee finished with 15 points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Lee knocked down 4 of 6 from the field and 7 of 10 from the free throw line. Akinrola scored 11 points on 5 of 8 shooting in just 15 minutes off the bench.
Middlebury College was led by sophomore forward Ryan Sharry, who scored a game-high 25 points. The only other player in double figures for the Panthers was freshman guard Jake Wolfin, who scored 13. Junior All-American center Andrew Locke scored nine points for the Panthers, and continued to display his shot-blocking prowess and dominant defense in the paint, recording a game-high four blocks.
With Locke, the NCAA Division III leader in blocked shots during the regular season (110 blocks) stationed under the basket, the Anchormen relied on their superior outside shooting to jump out to the early lead. RIC opened the game with a flawless 11-1 run through the first 5:02 of the contest, stunning the Middlebury home crowd of over 1,100 raucous fans. The Anchormen kept Middlebury without a basket on defense, and drained three trifectas during the opening minutes as Choice, Manson and freshman guard William Williams each nailed a three.
After a pair of free throws from Lee stretched the RIC lead to 13 points, 18-5, the shots finally began to fall for the Panthers on offense. Wolfin splashed back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to cut the Anchormen's lead down to 18-11, with 9:11 remaining in the first half.
Gray and Wolfin traded layups before Akinrola came off the bench and took it right at Locke and Sharry in the paint for a right-hand layup. On the next RIC possession, Akinrola was left unguarded at the top of the key, and buried his first 3-pointer of the season to give the Anchormen a double-digit lead, 25-14.
Middlebury cut the lead to just under 10 points for the final time in the first half with two free throws from senior Captain Tim Edwards, but they could get no closer, as RIC closed out the final four minutes of the half on a 10-4 run, led by back-to-back 3-point baskets by Manson and junior Captain Darius Debnam on RIC's final two possessions to take a 37-22 lead into halftime.
"They were both huge 3-point shots Nick hit for us tonight in the first half. He's a natural gun; everybody knows he walked onto our team last year. I didn't play him at all, I never game him any time, and that was my mistake. He does everything right. He's extremely tough, and he's got that gun locked and loaded at all times. I thought tonight he had something special in him, and I knew if we got him open for some looks tonight he would bury them. He never hesitates, and I love that about him." Walsh said in a postgame interview with WXIN.
The Anchormen shot 44 percent (13-for-29) from the field, connected on 6 of 11 from downtown and 5 of 6 from the free throw line, while out-rebounding their hosts, 22-19, over the first 20 minutes. Conversely, Middlebury struggled to get rolling offensively, shooting just 21 percent (8-for-30) from the field and 15 percent (2-for-15) from 3-point range.
RIC came out of the locker room on fire, going on a 7-4 run to start the second half, taking their largest lead of the game, 18 points (44-26) with 18:34 remaining. The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run of their own started by a Locke dunk, capped off by a layup from Sharry in transition to cut the lead to just 10 points, 44-34. Walsh then called a timeout.
With their home crowd re-energized, Middlebury battled back into the game, but the Anchormen displayed tremendous poise on the road, hitting a number of clutch shots to keep the Panthers from getting close enough to tie the game in the second half. RIC freshman forward Steve Roberts backed down Sharry in the paint forcing him to foul, and Roberts rattled home two free throws to push the lead up to 13 points, 54-42, with just over 11 minutes remaining in the contest.
Five-straight points from a hard-working Sharry pulled the Panthers to within eight, 55-47, and a Wolfin layup made it a seven-point deficit, 56-49, with 8:54 left in the game. Middlebury freshman guard Nolan Thompson cut the lead to six points with a layup, but Choice responded with a 3-pointer for RIC, to give the Anchormen a nine-point, 63-54 lead.
In the final five minutes, the Anchormen turned to Gray once again to take over the game. Gray split two defenders, and shot past Locke to the basket for an uncontested layup to put the Anchormen back up by double digits, 69-58, with 4:36 remaining. Gray knocked down two clutch free throws on the next possession in front of a hostile Middlebury crowd that was doing all they could to distract him. Sharry netted a layup in transition after Gray's free throws, but it would be the final meaningful basket of the game for the Panthers, as they missed five of their final six shots.
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