The East Region’s top seed ended an inspiring Cinderella run in the NCAA Regional Championship last night. Here’s how it went down:
Le MOYNE 75 BLOOMFIELD 59
For the first time in the program’s 70-year history, Le Moyne is heading to the Elite-8 after pulling away late from seventh-seeded Cinderella school Bloomfield in Syracuse. In front of a boisterous full house, All-Regional Team honoree Tanner Hyland celebrated his 23rd birthday in style, pouring in 17 points off the bench (5-8 from beyond the arc), becoming the fifth Dolphin to record 200 career 3-pointers as the top-seeded Phins used their trademark stellar defense to earn their sixth straight victory, and first in three all-time regional title games. Most Outstanding Player Robert Jones III registered 16 points (6-7 FG) and six rebounds, capping a three-game stretch that saw the senior forward shoot 67% from the field and 16-of-17 from the line while averaging 14.3 points and 6.0 boards. The #24 Dolphins trailed only once on the night (and only 118:15 of 120 total minutes at the regional), allowing the first basket before rattling off eight straight points, eventually taking a 40-31 lead into the locker room. The margin reached 11 (44-33) early in the second half before the Bears began chipping away, eventually pulling within 54-53 on Nick Davidson’s short baseline jumper with 5:10 to play. That’s as close as the visitors would get, however, as Tyquan Rolon (11 points, four assists off the bench) buried a right-wing three on a broken play 24 seconds later, triggering a 21-6 game-ending run that featured a huge Hyland triple, six straight foul shots by seldom-used reserve guard CJ Asuncion-Byrd (who doubled his seasonal free-throw output en route to eight second-half points) and a fast-break dunk by Jones to close out the scoring. All-Tournament selections Keith Washington (16 points, four assists) and Davidson (15 points in his final collegiate game) were the top performers for Bloomfield, which also landed backup senior forward Nacho Diez (12 points, 5-7 FG, nine rebounds, three steals) and Safee Abdus-Sabur (10 points, all in the first half, seven rebounds) in double figures to close out an outstanding, 24-8 campaign. Le Moyne was the superior shooting team (52%-36%) and did more damage from the stripe (19-23 to 7-9) while making twice as many treys (8-22 to 4-15) and dishing out twice as many assists (16-8). Another revealing stat showed the Dolphins outscoring the Bears 19-12 off turnovers despite committing six more miscues (18-12). Le Moyne – which lost regional championships in 1959 (to St. Michael’s) and 1964 (to Akron) – will be seeded fifth at the Elite-8 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and will take on fourth-seeded West Texas A&M next Tuesday at 1:00 pm EDT. Bloomfield – which played at the Henninger Athletic Center for the first time since December of 1986 (an 86-64 loss) – is now 0-4 in the all-time series and slips to 1-2 in regional championship games, all in the last eight seasons. They captured the 2011 crown at Bentley, making history as the first seven seed ever to win the East Regional.