Great Bay men win opener in national small college basketball tourney
PETERSBURG, Virginia — The Great Bay Community College men's basketball team qualified for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association's Division 2 Small College National Championship tournament for the first time in program history. On Monday, the Herons made sure it would not be a one-and-done appearance.
The tenth-seeded Herons defeated No. 7 Villa Maria (19-11), 79-67 in the first round of the tournament Monday, outscoring the Vikings by 16 points in the second half at Virginia State University,
The Herons (21-8) advanced to Tuesday's quaterfinal against No. 2 Penn State Mont Alto with a scheduled tip-off for 6 p.m. at Richard Bland College.
Previous story:Great Bay Community College men's basketball in national tourney, thanks to local talent
Great Bay coach Alex Burt said it's just an "exciting moment" and said advancing to the elite eight is "second to none."
"We've obviously had to face a bit of adversity losing to Southern Maine in the (Yankee Small College Conference) championship just last week," Burt said. "So I think it was a kind of a fresh start, a hit back to reality almost."
Burt added, "I honestly think facing that adversity kind of streamlined us in a much better direction going into (Monday's) game," Burt said. "We had guys really, really locked in during the last week of practice. The attention to detail and our preparation when we practiced (Sunday) night and as we prepped today going into film, guys were just ready for the moment. Already motivated and inspired for the moment of today's game."
Great Bay trailed 39-35 entering the second half.
"Honestly, we made a couple of adjustments in, which I won't share just in case (Penn State Mont Alto) reads this," Burt joked. "But, we just took a look at kind of what was going on in the first half, and we felt like we were right there as far as outplaying them, it's just maybe the ball didn't bounce our way a couple of times and maybe a couple more times in their favor. That's the nature of a one- or two-possession game."
Freshman Kingsley Breen led the Herons with 27 points on 9-15 shooting, including four made 3-pointers which tied for the team-high with Bryce Gibson (22 points) who also made four. Theodore Wolfe scored 16 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the field.
"Kingsley had a good day, there's no secret there," Burt said. "He did some good things as far as putting the ball through the net at times, and getting guy touches. It's a talk that I've had with him time and time again where it's finding that balance of where and when is your point to attack, but also if you've got a guy who is open, find him."
Breen also had eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Wolfe had 13 boards and Portsmouth native Alex Tavares (five points) pulled down double-digit boards with 10.
The Herons really locked down defensively as no player on the Vikings shot at least 50 percent from the field, led by 21 points from Rhalon Bragg on 7-of-20 from the field.
"Credit to really us as a group," Burt said. "We kind of went in there with a plan, and rotating 10 or 11 guys, plus extra guys communicating from the bench just to keep it a continuous voice was just honestly incredible to see. That was probably an all-time team win, for sure. With the balanced effort not only on the offensive side, but really something special on the defensive side."
A win on Tuesday against the second-seeded Nittany Lions will push the Herons to Wednesday's semifinal game which will be held back at VSU. The two teams did not play in the regular season.
"We'll make sure guys get in the gym, we'll watch our film and put together a quick game-plan of what we think is going to take us to the final four," Burt said. "Quick turnaround, but it's nothing that we can't achieve."
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Great Bay men win opener in national small college basketball tourney
