College of Idaho survives another scare and wins NAIA Tournament championship
One scare wasn’t enough for the College of Idaho.
A night after escaping its closest win of the season, the top-ranked Yotes survived another frenzied comeback bid and beat Indiana Tech 73-71 for the 85th NAIA Men’s Basketball Championship on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium.
The Yotes’ 36th consecutive victory wasn’t assured until Indiana Tech’s Grant Smith’s shot inside the lane rimmed out and into a collision of players, including Yotes forward Drew Wyman, who may have dislocated his shoulder in the mad scramble for the rebound and was wincing in pain as the team was celebrating in front of a sizable contingent of purple-clad fans.
“But I’m all right,” Wyman said through gritted teeth. “At least we won.”
The victory capped a 36-1 season for College of Idaho and was the first championship for the Yotes since the program won the state of Idaho’s only other NAIA title in 1996 when it was a then-Division II program known as Albertson.
Just as they built a 23-point lead midway through the second half only to see it shaved to a 73-72 win over Ottawa (Ariz.) in Friday’s semifinals, College of Idaho dominated Indiana Tech in the first 20-plus minutes and led 52-26 when tournament MVP Charles Elzie hit a three-pointer with 17 minutes to play.
But Indiana Tech (32-5) stormed back with an array of three-point shots by Steve Helm, Max Perez and Rog Stein. Perez, fouled on a three-point attempt, made all three free throws to get the Warriors to within 70-68 with 1 minute, 17 seconds to play.
Smith had a chance to tie the game with two free throws with 11.4 seconds to play, but missed the second shot. Wyman then made one of two free throws with 9.9 seconds for the 73-71 lead. The Warriors had a chance to win or send the game into overtime when Smith missed the shot at the buzzer.
“We played a poor 20 minutes in the first half,” said Indiana Tech coach Ted Albert, whose team overcame a 16-point deficit to beat Georgetown in the semifinals on Friday. “I’m proud of these guys for how hard they fought. But we didn’t finish. We dug too big a hole against a good team like this. We paid for it.”
College of Idaho had barely been tested until the last two nights of this tournament. They won their first 35 games by an average score of 86-63 and defeated their first two opponents in Kansas City by a total of 65 points.
But one-point and two-point victories in the semifinals and final made this one that much sweeter.
“We needed some close ones,” said College of Idaho coach Colby Blaine. “That’s okay. We love it. Indiana Tech is a great team. They don’t quit. That’s what great teams do. And they didn’t quit tonight. But we made our free throws tonight, and we won the game.”
Weathering the storm on Friday prepared the Yotes for Indiana Tech’s come-from-behind effort.
“We got experience on Friday with it, and we took it into today,” Wyman said. “It helps us a lot. We knew what we had to do. They’re a great team. We knew we had to hang in there and finish the game. We did it. Regardless how we did it, we did it. We got the win We’re national champions. “
Jake O’Neil led the Yotes with 15 points, including 5 of 8 from the free-throw line; freshman guard Samaje Morgan scored 13, Tyler Robinett had 11, including two three-pointers that jump-started the Yotes in the opening minutes, and Elzie had 10 to with his 25 against LSU Shreveport, and 21 against Ottawa, all contributing to his MVP award.
The Warriors were led by Stein’s 18 points eight rebounds.
Wyman, a 6-foot-5 sophomore, doesn’t believe this tournament has seen the last of the Yotes.
“We’ve got a lot of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, a lot of talent,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be here next year.”
