http://www.naia.org/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=209444059&DB_OEM_ID=27900
Vanguard (Calif.) advances to first-ever national
championship
March 24, 2014
By Alan Grosbach | NAIA Staff
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Box
score) Sixth-seeded Vanguard’s (Calif.) prolific offense was on
display
Monday night, as the Lions raced past St. Gregory’s (Okla.), 108-88, in the
semifinals
of the 2014 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National
Championship at Municipal
Auditorium. The Lions will play the winner of No 8
Emmanuel (Ga.) and MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
at 7:02 p.m. CDT on Tuesday in a
game that will air nationally on ESPN3. Click here
on information to
access to ESPN3.
Vanguard (31-6), which prior to 2014 had never won a game in one previous
trip to the national championship,
will make its first-ever appearance in the
banner game. The Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament
champions also
extended their winning streak to eight games.
“Our guys are happy to be here, but I think they’re also happy to be playing
one more game together,” said
Vanguard head coach Rhett Soliday. “We’re just
going to let it rip and see what happens. We know there will
be some
uncharacteristic mistakes, kind of like there were tonight, but once the guys
settle down, they’ll adjust.”
Preston Wynne led Vanguard with a season and tournament-high 42 points on
14-for-19 (73.6 percent) shooting,
including six 3-pointers. Through four games
at the national championship, the senior guard is averaging 28.3 points
per game
– nine points above his season average entering the event. Wynne also tied for a
team-high with four assists,
while grabbing four rebounds. The scoring effort
was the most since a 43-point performance by PJ Meyers of Life (Ga.)
in
2012.
“He’s really special,” said Rhett when asked about Wynne. “He can really
score in every way and with his range, he
really makes it difficult for other
teams to guard him. Our guys are probably the only ones who weren’t surprised by
some of the shots he made tonight.”
Wynne scored 17 of the Lions’ first 25 points, as Vanguard used five 3-point
plays en route to a 25-16 lead only
7:30 into the first half. St. Gregory’s
(24-10), which received its first eight points from Jaron Vierra, cut the
deficit to
28-26 with an 8-2 run that was capped by a Brock Vorwald layup.
The Lions turned the game back in their favor on another Wynne 3-pointer,
which sparked a 9-2 stretch for Vanguard.
The Cavaliers closed to 44-41 with
2:21 to play in the half, but were outscored 9-2 to end the period.
Vanguard ended the first period shooting 58.1 percent (18-of-31) from the
field, 63.6 percent (7-for-11) and 83.3
percent (10-of-12) at the free throw
line. The Cavaliers held a 21-13 advantage in rebounding, but were hampered
by
10 turnovers.
Vanguard opened the second half with six of its first eight baskets coming
from long range, capped by a contested
3-pointer by DeAngelo Jones, to extend
its lead out to a then-game-high 75-58. St. Gregory’s came as close as nine
points twice over the final 10 minutes of the game, but failed to get any
closer.
The Lions outscored the Cavaliers, 18-7, over the course of the final four
minutes to earn the 20-point victory.
As a team, Vanguard ended the game shooting 59.3 percent (35-of-59),
including a tournament-high 14 3-pointers.
Joining Wynne in double-digits was Chris Gorman with 22 points and Jones with
17 points. The trio of Wynne,
Gorman and Jones ended the game a combined
12-for-20 (60.0 percent) from 3-point range.
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今天以108:88 擊敗St.Gregory's 晉級冠軍賽~!
雖然大勝 但Swing上場時間沒有特別多~ 先發上陣只打了 13分鐘 留下
3分1籃板1抄截 1失誤 的數據~
希望他明天冠軍賽可以有更好的發揮並贏得比賽~