Erick Starkey recaps the men's division action from day two of the 2014 Division III College Championships in Westerville, Ohio.
All of the games are finished, and the 2014 Division III men's season is in the books. Bentley Icehouse took home a national title on a clear day in Westerville, Ohio.
The day began with the eight teams who survived their opponents, and the weather, on day one of the D-III College Championships.
In a battle of the only double-digit seeds left in the championship bracket, Brandies and Carleton College-GOP squared off, and TRON jumped out to an early lead. As the game went on, Carleton's height and strength outlasted the early surge of Brandeis, and Carleton won the game by five. Elon and Richmond faced off in a back and forth battle. Elon took control late in the game and, despite Richmond's late push, came out on top 15-13. Claremont and the surprise squad from Georgia College spent most of the first half of their game trading scores. No team took control until the last few points, when the Braineaters seized control and pulled away to win by three.
Lehigh and Bentley collided in a battle of the first and second seeds of the tournament, and not surprisingly, their match up turned into the game of the round. Lehigh jumped out to an early 4-2 lead, but Bentley reared back and took half 8-7. To begin the second half, Bentley expanded their lead to 11-8. Lehigh managed to bring it back, and the game was tied at 12. Bentley scored the last two points of the game to win during soft cap.
Brandeis would later return to their Saturday excellence and roll over Richmond to sew up a tie for fifth with a win by nine. Georgia College and Lehigh battled for the other fifth-place spot, and after a close, back-and-forth game, Lehigh pulled off the win 14-13.
Elon met the dark horse Carleton College-GOP in the semifinals. During the first points of the game, Carleton was in the lead or the game was tied, but Elon chipped away and managed to take half 8-7. After half, Big Fat Bomb started to take control, and their lead swelled to three. They went on to win 15-13.
Bentley Icehouse again took part in a game that came down to the wire when they faced off against Claremont in what could be the best game of the tournament. Icehouse was slow to get started as the Braineaters jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Claremont took half on a break to go up 8-5. Coming out of the half, Bentley still could not get their offense going as they fell to a 12-7 deficit, but then the tide began to turn. Bentley when on a 7-1 run to take the lead at 14-13, but Claremont tied it at 14s, forcing double-game point. Bentley scored the final point of the game to head to the championship match-up against Elon.
Bentley Icehouse went into the championship game as the number one overall seed and with a target on their back. They went undefeated in Pool A on Saturday, which gave them a pre-quarter bye, but they were tested during the quarters and semis. Each time, they prevailed. Elon Big Fat Bomb seemed to be the sleeper on the weekend after having entered as the sixth seed. They went undefeated in Pool C and were in close games throughout the championship bracket but, like Bentley, were faced with nothing they could not defeat.
The teams went back and forth while feeling each other out during the first few points, but then Elon jumped out to a 6-4 lead and took half at 8-6. Bentley came out of half seemingly flat-footed as Big Fat Bomb was able to jump to an 11-7 lead. But as with Icehouse's previous two games of the day, they were planning a comeback. Bentley tallied three straight scores and pulled within one, but still eventually found themselves down 13-11. They tied it up at 13s, but Bentley went on to score two straight points to win the championship 15-13.
While the championship bracket pandemonium went on throughout the day, the competition field’s bottom eight teams contended for the ninth overall spot.
The first round of the consolation bracket produced four of the closest games of the weekend with the largest margin of victory sitting at two. Bryant Craze and John Brown Ironfist met as the 10 and 13 seeds, respectively, and Craze pulled off the win by one to advance to the ninth-place game. The 16 seed and 11 seed met, and Olivet Nazarene managed to get the upset over St. John’s by two for their first win of the weekend. Bryant would go on to beat Olivet Nazarene’s Black Penguins 15-13 to take ninth place.
On the other half of the consolation bracket, Lewis and Clark played Kenyon, and SERF was able to outscore Bacchus by only one point, giving Kenyon their one and only win of the weekend. Two teams not necessarily expected to be in the consolation bracket, fourth-seeded Cedarville and seventh seeded SUNY-Geneseo met with Cedarville clawing out the win by a score of 15-14. They advanced to face Kenyon in an effort to claim one of the ninth place spots. Cedarville salvaged what they could from the weekend with a two-point win and a tie for ninth.
John Brown, St. John's, Lewis and Clark and SUNY-Geneseo all fell to the bottom four to battle it out to not finish last. St. John's managed to secure a win against John Brown Ironfist, 15-12, to go on to finish tied for 13th. Lewis and Clark beat SUNY-Geneseo 15-13 to finish 13th along with St. John's. Ironfist and Snail both finished the weekend without a win and tied for 15th.
The weekend was full of ups and downs for each and every team. Bentley proved they deserved their number one ranking, despite falling behind in numerous games. Icehouse knocked down each opponent they faced, no matter the circumstance. Teams like Brandeis, Carleton College-GOP and Georgia College proved that seeds often do not matter as much as people believe as they each pulled off a Cinderella story as the 14, 12 and nine seeds, respectively. Carleton finished tied for third, Brandies tied for fifth, and Georgia College tied for seventh. Overall, the weekend was full of surprises and upsets, but no upset could topple Bentley Icehouse.