March 18, 2001

By Gary Rubin

NCAA Division III Finals to Wrap Up

The first NCAA men's basketball champion of 2001 will be crowned this weekend at the Division III Final Four in Salem, Va. The national semifinals are Friday and the championship game is scheduled for Saturday night.

Here's a look at the four surviving teams in this year's tournament field and how they reached the national semifinals:

William Paterson College - Head coach Jose Rebimbas got 35 points from All-American Horace Jenkins as William Paterson College defeated host Christopher Newport 86-75 in overtime on Saturday. CNU trailed 36-29 at halftime but forged an 18-3 run in the second half to take a 58-52 lead with just under three minutes to play. Head coach C.J. Woollum's Captains still had a six-point margin with a minute to play but the Pioneers fought back and sent it to overtime on a jumper by Chris Lauer with 23 seconds left. In overtime, CNU All-American Antoine Sinclair fouled out in the first 30 seconds and the Pioneers pulled ahead for good.

The Pioneers play Illinois Wesleyan in the national semifinals.

Catholic University - After narrowly missing a trip to the Final Four last season, Mike Lonergan's Cardinals got their ticket punched this year with an 82-78 victory in the Northeast Sectional championship over Clark University. It was the Cardinals' 14th straight win and set a school record for wins in a season, eclipsing the mark they set three years ago. The loss ended the Cougars' 11-game winning streak.

Pat Maloney led four Catholic players in double figures with 25 points. The Cardinals shot 54.5% from the field in the first half and led 38-31 at the break. It was a different story in the second half. After Clark took its biggest lead, 65-62 on a 3-pointer by freshman Trevor Walker with 5:41 remaining, the Cards went on a 16-5 tear to lead by eight with 28.8 seconds to go. But the lead quickly dissipated. The Cougars scored eight points in the next 21 seconds to trail by just 81-78 with seven seconds left. They then fouled Kevin Wise without any time elapsing. After missing his first free throw, Wise sealed CUA's fifth consecutive NCAA playoff win on the road by hitting the second for the final margin.

"I'm very happy for our team," said Lonergan. "We were one win away from the Final Four last year and you never know if you'll get that chance again. Fortunately we got another chance and took advantage of it."

Catholic will face Ohio Northern in the semifinals on Friday night.

Ohio Northern - In a matchup of Top 10 teams, number one Ohio Northern edged seventh-ranked Carthage 66-64 on Saturday to advance to the Final Four for the second time in school history. ONU's 18th consecutive victory equaled the school record set by the 1992-93 team that won the NCAA Championship. As expected, the game went down to the final seconds before a winner was determined. With only seven seconds remaining in the game and ONU up 65-62, Carthage's Jason Wiertel converted a jumper while being fouled. On the ensuing free throw, Wiertel missed and Mike Heitkamp was immediately fouled after grabbing the rebound.

Heitkamp made one of the two free throws, setting up a frantic final five seconds. Carthage's Greg Ktistou dribbled up the court and fed the ball to Tony Papanicholas in the corner. Papanicholas drove to the hoop but lost the ball as time expired.

"We are very fortunate to be where we are," said ONU head coach Joe Campoli. "Their man-to-man defense pushed us out of what we wanted to do offensively."

Illinois Wesleyan - Head coach Dennie Bridges has his Illinois Wesleyan Titans in the Final Four for the third time after they defeated the University of Chicago 77-68 on Saturday in Chicago. IWC will be going for its second national title, which it last won in 1997. Laban Cross scored a game-high 22 points as Illinois Wesleyan University rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit.

Chicago (24-4) was up by as many as 11 at 39-28 with 19:18 left. Illinois Wesleyan then went on a 15-3 run during the next 3:08 to take a 43-42 lead. Cross and Adam Osborn each scored five points during that stretch. Osborn finished the night with 10 points and eight assists.