BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Gino Bartolone scored 12 of his 15
points as Kentucky Wesleyan dominated the first half of a 72-63
victory Saturday over Washburn that gave the Panthers their eighth
NCAA Division II basketball championship.
Bartolone made five of eight 3-pointers in the game at Cal State
Bakersfield. Lorico Duncan and Marshall Sanders added 13 points
each, and Duncan had 11 rebounds for the Panthers (31-3).
Randolph Williams had 19 points for Washburn of Kansas, which
trailed 48-32 at halftime.
The Ichabods (29-5) regrouped in the second half, scoring the
first seven points and closing the gap to three with 4:44
remaining. But Washburn didn't score again until Melvin Ware made a
3-pointer in the final seconds.
"One of the last things I said to the kids coming out of the
locker room before the game is that we want to be the aggressor,
not be passive, let's attack, and I thought that's what we did in
the first half," said Kentucky Wesleyan coach Ray Harper.
Washburn committed six fouls in the final minute in a desperate
attempt to regain possession – but succeeded only in allowing the
Panthers to add six points on eight free throw tries.
It was the fourth consecutive season of 30 victories or more for
Kentucky Wesleyan, and third straight year in the Division II final
game. The Panthers won in 1998-99, and lost a year ago to Metro of
Denver.
"They've been here before, they did a very good job in the
first half," Washburn Coach Bob Chapman said of the winners:
"Then our guys came back like we knew they would. We had two or
three shots there to tie it, that didn't go."
Sanders and Duncan were named to the all-tournament team, along
with Ewan Auguste and Ryan Murphy of Washburn, and Sylvere Bryan
Jr. of Tampa, which lost to the eventual champion by a single point
in overtime in the semifinals Thursday. Auguste had 14 points and
Murphy 10 rebounds in the championship game.
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NCAA Division II tournament
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