Déjà vu: Belmont
NCAA-bound
ISSUE: 02/28/07 > sports > Belmont wins aSUN
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Photo by Jordan Drake |
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. –NCAA Tournament … here Belmont comes for a second consecutive season. The Bruins return following a dominating performance over regular-season champion ETSU in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Mar. 3, when they built a 19-point lead as the buzzer sounded for the first half and never relinquished control en route to a 94-67 victory.
“That was beyond our wildest dreams right there,” said head coach Rick Byrd, who is in his 21st year at Belmont. “I think it's the best game that any Belmont team that I've coached has played -- certainly the best half.”
Led by Andy Wicke’s four threes, the Bruins nailed 12 in the first half while also playing stingy defense. Belmont shot a blistering 50 percent from the floor (30-for-60) while converting 14 triples. The Bruins stifled the Buccaneers’ offense to a tune of 36 percent (25-for-69) shooting and only three treys.
Wicke and Andrew Preston each scored 18 for the Bruins while Justin Hare chipped in 17. The trio was named to the All-Tournament Team while Hare garnered additional tournament MVP honors for the second consecutive season. Preston, a senior, saved his best performances of his career for the tournament by turning in two double-doubles in three games.
With the early score tied at eight, Belmont used a 9-0 run, courtesy of three-pointers from Matthew Dotson, Hare and Keaton Belcher to push the score to 17-8. After Hare and Wicke dialed long-distance again, the Bruins pushed their lead to 15, 37-22, with 5:23 remaining in the half. ETSU eventually cut the Bruin lead to 11, 39-28, before a 10-2 Belmont run, capitalized by a Hare last-second desperation heave from beyond the arc pushed the lead to 19, 49-30, at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room after halftime, Belmont kept the accelerator to the floor, constantly holding the Buccaneers at bay by about 20 points during the second half. ETSU did manage to cut the lead to 14, 78-64, with 4:52 remaining. However, Belmont outscored ETSU 16-3 in the waning moments before a celebration erupted among players, coaches and fans.
Last year in the NCAA Tournament, No. 15 seed Belmont lost to eventual national runner-up UCLA 78-44 in the first round. After the A-Sun final, Byrd mentioned that he feels his Bruins deserve a higher seed this time around and is already game-planning. “We've got time. We may put in a whole new offense. Try to get that out there if you would,” he told the media and then chuckled in his post-game interviews.
Belmont (23-9) will be the lone representative from the Atlantic Sun Conference in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Bruins will find out their Big Dance destination on Selection Sunday, March 11 on CBS.
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