Men's Basketball
The DBU Patriots captured their first postseason win on Friday night to advance to the Championship game of the Heartland Conference Tournament. The Patriots were the second seed in the tournament and were matched up against number three seed, St. Mary's University. The Patriots defeated the Rattlers 72-68 in a tough physical game.
Both the Patriots and the Rattlers started off slow only scoring a combine 10 points in the first four minutes of the game. The Patriot offense caught fire soon there after and the DBU defense tightened up as the Rattlers suffered a nine minute scoring drought.
The Patriots were able to create a 12 point lead over the stunned Rattlers late in the first half, but the Rattlers did not stay down for long as they rallied to get back within six going into halftime, 27-21.
Sophomore Braxton Adamson led all scorers through the first half scoring 12 points. Adamson finished the night with 12 points on 4-for-7 from the field, 2-for-3 from behind the arc, and three steals.
The second half started with a Rattler surge as they took over the lead, 30-29.
The Patriots came back with a surge of their own as Junior Eddie Gloviak and Freshman
Jordan McGowen led the Patriot offense with 16 points a piece. Gloviak went 5-for-7 from the field and connected on 6-for-8 from the line in the win. McGowan shot 3-for-6 from the field and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe.
Senior Shelby Lewis had a impressive overall performance as he finished the night with 10 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and three steals.
Junior Bryan Baumann rounded out the Patriots top scorers as he had nine points in the win.
It was a tough defensive battle between both teams as the game had seven ties and nine lead changes down the stretch.
Sophomore Jared Whitmire came in off the bench and hit two crucial free throws in the closing seconds of the game to extend the Patriot lead to four.
The Patriots were close to perfect from the charity stripe as they drained 90 percent of their shots shooting 27-for-30 on the night. The Rattlers were less than stellar as they shot 43.5 percent from the line connecting on only 10 out of 23 attempts.
The Rattlers outscored the Patriots in the second half 47-45, but it was not enough to overcome the first half deficit as DBU was victorious, 72-68.
The Patriots defense was able to hold St. Mary's ace Nick Morey to only nine points in the win as he went 3-for-5 from the field and 3-for-5 from the free throw line. The Patriots beat St. Mary's on the boards as they grabbed 32 rebounds to the Rattlers 28.
"That was as unbelievable game between the two hottest teams in the conference. St. Mary's is a great defensive team, and our players really defended well tonight too. It was a real battle. I'm so proud of our team tonight. We knocked down free throws when it counted, and we out rebounded the number one rebounding team in our conference," Head Coach Blake Flickner said. "The guys really competed hard and played unselfish basketball the whole game. What a game! Tomorrow will be another real test for our team and it should be a great match-up."
The Patriots are scheduled to play the University of the Incarnate Word for the Heartland Conference Championship on Saturday, March 7, at 6:00 p.m. in San Antonio, Texas. The winner will receive an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Regional Tournament.
