RICHMOND, Ind. – You hear it quite often in sports. It's never easy beating a team three times in a year. That's what the IU East men's basketball team was trying to do March 3 as the Red Wolves took on the Pioneers of Point Park University in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title game.
Despite a slow showing in the first half offensively, IU East was able to oust the Pioneers and their stingy two-three zone, emerging 84-67 for the first KIAC Tournament title in the Red Wolves' program history.
IU East will be moving on to the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship, which begins March 11 in Point Lookout, Mo. The Red Wolves await their seeding in the tournament, which will be announced March 4 at approximately 9 p.m. IU East time. The Red Wolves currently are ranked 19th in the NAIA Division II poll and look for a top-16 seed in the 32-team field.
IU East settled for jump shots early against Point Park, shooting 16 triples in the first half and connecting on just three.
"Point Park is good at what they do," assistant coach and former Red Wolf Tyler Rigby stated Tuesday following the net cutting. "They get out in those passing lanes and really disrupt. That's something they've done for a long time. Ever since I've been here they've run that two-three.
"The zone really slowed everything down for us, and it didn't let us benefit from those one-on-one advantages that we had. We settled for threes, which is all right, but in the right situations. Sixteen in one half is way too much though."
IU East was able to undo that zone a bit in the second half, creating more turnovers and more possessions on its way to outscoring the Pioneers by a count of 55-35 in the latter of the two halves.
Senior guard Tyler Fangman (Cold Spring, Ky./Beechwood High School) led IU East in scoring on the evening with 17. Junior forward Dom Williams (Fort Wayne, Ind./Western Wyoming Community College) came off the bench to pour in 13 of the Red Wolf bench's 34 points, another example of that IU East depth. Huston Clark (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo High School) added 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to add yet another double-double to his All-KIAC campaign.
IU East (26-7, 11-2 KIAC) finishes the year with its first sweep of the KIAC tournament and regular season titles.
"I think this team is a lot more talented," Rigby stated when asked to compare this team to past years. "We're a lot deeper, and definitely more athletic. Being able to play so many guys and stay fresh is going to be key, and to make a deep run we'll have to do that."
- Article courtesy of IU East, by Franklin Crist -- http://www.iueredwolves.com/article/3047.php