Vulcans rally, come up just short in PSAC final
CALIFORNIA – For Bill Brown, March Madness has come to mean the agonizing hours after the PSAC championship during which he waits for his team’s postseason future to be decided. He can only hope the news today will be better than the news a year ago.
Millersville University (24-5) remained the conference’s hottest team here Sunday afternoon, topping Brown’s California Vulcans, 79-74, to win its first PSAC men’s basketball championship in 10 years.
It was the Marauders’ 11th-straight win and earned them an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II tournament, which begins Friday.
Meanwhile, California (25-8) must wait until this afternoon when the tournament’s pairings are announced to see if it receives an at-large bid. Brown’s optimism is tempered by recent history. Last year, Cal’s PSAC-runner-up finish and 23 wins weren’t enough to qualify.
“I don’t take anything for granted,” said Brown, whose team was ranked 6th in the East Region entering play this weekend. “I hope our credentials speak for themselves. There weren’t any upsets in the other regional tournaments.”
For what it’s worth, the Vulcans received a vote of confidence from their vanquishers.
“I think Cal and West Chester deserve to make it,” said Millersville coach Fred Thompson of his PSAC brethren. “I told a Cal player afterwards that we hope to see them again.
“Not play them. Just see them,” he added with a smile.
The Marauders cinched up the win yesterday by making all the key plays in the game’s final 1:30.
With his team trailing, 74-72, Millersville point guard Khari McKie rebounded his own wild lay-up and kicked the ball out to a wide open Daron Pressley, who drained a three-pointer from the wing that proved the eventual game-winner.
Millersville then came up with big defensive stops on Cal’s next two possessions. A held ball gave the Marauders the ball back, and Micah Davenport’s offensive tip-in pushed their lead to three, 77-74. Cal’s Ishmieal Kamara had an opportunity to tie the score with 10 seconds left, but his three-point attempt was partially blocked by Davenport. Kamara’s buzzer-beating three-pointer on Saturday gave Cal its 62-60 win over West Chester.
“I’d have probably been better off taking another dribble and setting myself up better,” said Kamara, who scored a team-high 18, but only four in the second half while playing with foul trouble.
The final outcome overshadowed an otherwise impressive comeback by the Vulcans.
The Marauders opened with a torrid start, scoring five of their first six baskets inside to claim a 13-10 advantage.
Then, after softening up the Vulcans’ inside, they lit it up from the outside. Tournament MVP Gerald Redding canned back-to-back three-pointers in a 15-2 run that made it 26-12. At one point the Marauders hit eight-straight shots, and sank 13 of their first 17 attempts.
“We knew we took their best shot,” said Kamara. “That’s as well as any team could play.”
Millersville eventually cooled off and the Vulcans chipped away, fashioning an 18-5 run capped off by Kamara’s three-pointer at the halftime buzzer that made it 45-42.
“Usually, when we punch teams in the mouth, they quit,” said Thompson. “Cal deserves a lot of credit. They didn’t quit.”
The Marauders clung to the lead until midway through the second half, when Cal’s Michael Johnson converted a double-clutch lay-up to put the Vulcans’ up, 60-59 – their first lead since hitting the game’s first basket.
It was also the Vulcans’ last lead until Johnson’s break-away dunk with 2:30 left put them on top, 74-72.
Johnson finished with 15 points. Fellow big man Tom Frederick had 16 points and nine rebounds for Cal, while Kevin Handy came off the bench to score 10.
Meanwhile, Millersville’s entire starting five reached double figures, paced by Redding’s 22.
“They earned it on the road,” said Brown of Millersville. “They deserve the championship. Our only hope is that we can put our shoes on one more time.”