Woods secures berth in NAIA 'Dance' with RSC Tourney win
Mar. 3—The drama of college basketball's March Madness isn't limited to the NCAA Division I level.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods' men's team is headed to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Tournament.
The Pomeroys used a strong late second half effort to earn a 74-64 victory over visiting Shawnee State in the River States Conference Tournament semifinals, with a packed house watching inside the Knoerle Center on Saturday afternoon, SMWC sports information reported.
The Woods extended its winning streak to 11 games and improved to 25-5 for the season — both of which are school records. The Pomeroys who finished second in the league during the regular season will advance to the NAIA Tournament — the first-ever NAIA national berth for a men's program in school history.
SMWC, seeded No. 2 in the RSC Tournament will now head to Point Park for the River States Conference Championship Game on Tuesday. Point Park — the No. 1 seed — won 87-63 over West Virginia Tech on Saturday. Since Point Park won the regular season championship they have already earned an automatic qualifier into the NAIA Tournament, and with SMWC's Saturday win over Shawnee State, the Pomeroys have also earned an automatic qualifier into the tournament.
The RSC receives two automatic bids one to the regular season champion and the other to the tournament champion or the tournament runner-up if Point Park is the winner.
In Saturday's win, Chaz Birchfield went 7-of-11 from the field to score 17 points and lead the way for the Pomeroys. He added eight rebounds and two steals in the winning effort. Tarik Dixon was 6-of-10 from the field to score 16 points while leading scorer Cobie Barnes added 14 points. Dixon hit the lone two SMWC 3-pointers of the game.
The Pomeroys connected of 29-of-61 from the field for a shooting percentage of 47.5 and owned a dominating 44-27 edge in rebounding. The Pomeroys held a 16-5 edge in second chance points in the game.
Leading by six points, Barnes hit the biggest bucket of the game with 50 seconds to go as he gathered the miss from Jenkins and put it through the basket to give The Woods a 70-64 lead. The SMWC defense would not allow another point as Birchfield hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left to give The Woods a 74-64 victory.
Shawnee State scored four in a row as the clock ticked under 11 minutes remaining to cut the Pomeroys' lead down to 54-53. Tupuola would score off the Dixon assist with 10:03 remaining to restore a 56-53 advantage. The Pomeroys' defense then forced a shot clock violation to regain possession.
With the score knotted, Greg Jenkins converted a second chance opportunity as The Woods went ahead by a pair. After a defensive stop, Dixon hit a pair at the line and SMWC owned a 60-56 cushion. Tony Webb was whistled for a foul of DaMeriz Merriweather on a 3-pointer and hit a pair to move ahead 62-56 with 6:41 to go.
The defense continued to excel as they forced another shot clock violation to gain possession. Barnes was fouled as The Poms went into the double bonus and then Dixon added a fast break lay-up with 5:13 remaining to stretch the cushion back out to 66-56. Four in a row from the Bears cut the lead down to six, but Dixon hit a runner with 1:38 remaining to stretch the lead back out to 68-60.
St. Mary-of-the-Woods will travel to No. 1 Point Park for the RSC Conference Tournament Championship Game on Tuesday, March 5.
