SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio - Derrick Hannon's driving lay-up with 3.5 seconds left gave the NAIA Division II #14 Yellow Jackets a 74-73 victory at Notre Dame (Ohio) in the championship game of the American Mideast Conference Tournament.
Cedarville earned the AMC's second automatic bid and heads to the 19th Annual NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship on March 10-16 hosted by the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo.
The Yellow Jackets, who led from the second minute of the contest until two minutes remaining, needed some late-game heroics from Chris Beals and a little help from NDC to even set up Hannon's epic shot.
The Falcons took their first lead since scoring the first basket of the game with 2:10 to go. The hosts appeared to be in good shape with a 73-69 advantage with 22 seconds left following two free throws. However, Beals nailed a highly-contested three-pointer from the left wing to cut the difference to one with 13.5 ticks on the clock.
CU immediately fouled on the in bounds pass and Notre Dame missed the front end of the one-and-one. Hannon took the ball the length of the court, drove through traffic down the right side of the lane, and deftly put the ball high off the square for the decisive points.
Following a timeout with 2.6 seconds left, NDC misfired on a desperation three-pointer giving the Yellow Jackets their third AMC Tournament trophy in six years.
Austin Foote came off the bench to provide a game-high 17 points for Cedarville, 25-8 overall. Beals added 15 points while Hannon and Matt Harner chipped in 10 points each. Harner also became the 49th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career points.
The largest lead for the Yellow Jackets was eight points on multiple occasions and it was 67-61 at the 4:05 mark. NDC ran off 10 straight points before Cedarville's late rally.
The big stat for the Jackets was the three-point arc as they hit 11-of-19 bombs for 58 percent. CU owned a slight 30-29 edge on the boards with both clubs committing 12 turnovers.
The Yellow Jackets have won nine straight and 15 of their last 16 outings. Cedarville will be making its seventh NAIA national tournament appearance in the last eight years and its fourth in a row. [STATS]
SCOTT HUCK PHOTO GALLERY
