Knights Falter to NHTI 96-94 in YSCC Championship Final
This year’s YSCC Final Four was supposed to end in celebration. Vermont Tech had run the table against its YSCC opponents, recording a perfect 12-0 conference record before the playoffs. Vermont Tech had been crowned Regular Season Champs at the YSCC banquet and entered the playoffs as the #1 seed and prohibitive favorite.
Saturday’s semi-final round opponent, vastly improved Eastern Maine, put up a valiant fight, but ultimately succumbed to the Vermont Tech steamroller. The Knights pounded Eastern Maine, 80-43 to open the playoffs. Nick Simpson led the way with 30 points. Kevin Carr added 25 points. Trent Roleau, Josh Lindsey and Kwei General-Vanderpuije all chipped in with a double digit scoring performance.
“The story behind our semi-final win was team defense. Our guys know that, to play championship level basketball, we have to be able to stop our opponents. Eastern Maine has some great players, including All Conference and likely All-American Thelbert Green. Stopping Green was our focus. Nick Simpson nailed it. He played a great defensive game. Anytime your team can hold an opponent under 50, it’s a special day.”
It looked like the Knights would carry their momentum straight to the championship round. Arch rival NHTI scored an impressive come from behind victory against Southern Maine in Saturday’semi-final round. NHTI had been behind by as much as 17 points, but came roaring back to take a commanding 11 point lead against the Seawolves and secure a berth in the championship game.
As far as championship round match-ups go, this was one made in heaven. Vermont Tech (22-4) came in ranked #1 in the USCAA Coach’s Poll. NHTI (22-8) was ranked #8. Vermont Tech had received an at-large bid to the USCAA National Championship Tournament on Friday. NHTI knew that it needed to win the YSCC Championship to earn a ticket to the USCAA National Championship. The YSCC winner gets an automatic bid.
The Knights started out fast. Eight minutes into the contest, Vermont Tech had built an eight point lead. Everything was working. The team was rebounding well. The fast break was clicking. Shots were dropping. Four players were in double figures at the halftime break and Vermont Tech held a commanding 60-41 at the half. The Knights had shot 56% from the floor and 71% from behind the arc. The championship was only twenty minutes away.
The second half was a different story. NHTI opened with an 11-0 run to close the lead to 8 points. From that point forward, the two teams battled like two heavyweight contenders. NHTI’s All-Conference guard, Besfort Syla scored 14 of his 25 points to lead the Lynx. Forward Marv Leveille scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half and grabbed six huge second half rebounds. Everything seemed to go downhill for the Knights. Senior Trent Roleau picked up his 2nd and 3rd fouls early in the second half, forcing him to the bench for seven minutes. Trent re-entered at the 10 minute mark and quickly picked up his fourth foul.
“Losing Trent for most of the second half was a huge factor, commented Coach John Dyer after the game. “He had been a force in the first half, picking up 13 points and six rebounds. When Trent is in the game, we’re a different team.”
For the last five minutes of the game, the lead changed several times. NHTI began its last possession with 37 seconds on the clock and holding a one point lead. “We didn’t want to foul either Syla or Williams in that possession. We picked out the players we wanted to get to the line and tried to force the ball to them. We couldn’t. Syla is a master ballhandler and was able to use up half of the shot clock before we had to foul him,” explained Coach Dyer. Syla made the first of his two shots, VTC grabbed the rebound, brought the ball to half court and called time out. 11 seconds showed on the clock.
“We called the right play and executed it well,” said Coach Dyer. “The shot just didn’t drop.” The play called for Simpson to hand off to point guard Alex Tyrrell. Alex was to take the ball down the lane while Josh Lindsey set a back screen on Kevin Carr’s man. Carr broke free at the three point line, Tyrrell bounced him a perfect pass and Carr launched what looked like a game winner. The shot bounced high on the rim and about ten outstretched arms tried to tap it in. An NHTI player as able to swat the ball away and the buzzer sounded as the ball went out of bounds.
Final Score: NHTI 96 Vermont Tech 94.
“It was a really tough game to lose, especially since we had such a big halftime lead, said Coach Dyer after the game. We have to credit NHTI for a fantastic comeback. They are a fine, young team and deserved the win. It will be great to have them among the final ten teams at the USCAA tournament. It will take our guys a couple of days to get over the disappointment. However, nothing can diminish the great accomplishments of this team has achieved. There is still a national championship out there waiting to be won. I think they will come back strong.”
Nick Simpson scored 34 points in the loss. Josh Lindsey had 14 points. Kevin Carr and Trent Roleau each had 13 points and Alex Tyrrell finished with 11 points.