Cardinal Stritch Advances To Championship Game
Wolves to play top seed William
Penn in the title game
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – #2 Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) earns a spot in the
championship game with a 69-56 win over #11 Indiana University Southeast in the
second semifinal of the 2013 NAIA Division II Men's National Basketball
Championship. The 2013 event is being held at the Keeter Gymnasium on the
campus of College of the Ozarks.
Tony
Smit led all scorers with 21 points and had the hot hand from the perimeter,
knocking down five three-pointers for the Wolves. Patrick Moore dominated the
paint with 15 points and six rebounds and Jeremy D'Amico chipped in 14.
After
being down 5-0, Cardinal Stritch quickly took control with a 20-4 run, led by
Smith who hit a trio of three-pointers, scoring 13 points in the opening six
minutes. IU Southeast regrouped and cut it to four moments later but an 8-0 run
put the Wolves up by 12 and led by as much as 13 (42-29) in the first half
after another three-pointer by Smit. The Grenadiers scored the final seven
points, however, capped by a half-court shot by Cameron Mitchell that just beat
the horn to put the score at 42-36 at the break.
IU
Southeast made it a three-point game early in the final half on a three-pointer
by Matt Trimnell but Cardinal Stritch put the game away, scoring the next 14
points en route to a 17-2 run that put the Wolves up 61-42. D'Amico knocked
down a couple of three-pointers and Moore scored seven points during their
stretch run while the Wolves defense held IU Southeast without a field goal for
over 12 minutes.
The
Grenadiers shot 42% for the game but were held to just 35% in the second half.
Cameron Mitchell led the way with 18 points and Kegan Clark added 13. IU
Southeast, playing in its first ever semifinal, end the season at 30-5.
Cardinal
Stritch shot 40% for the game, 43% from beyond the arc and has held three of
its four opponents at the national championship to under 60 points. The Wolves
will play for their schools first ever national championship.
This
marks just the third time that the top two seeded teams will be playing for the
title game. In 1999, #1 Cornerstone (Mich.) defeated #2 Bethel (Ind.) 113-109
(OT) in the highest scoring game in the history of the championship. Last year,
#2 Oregon Tech defeated top seed Northwood (Fla.) 63-46.
Cardinal
Stritch improves to 34-3 on the year and will play #1 William Penn (Iowa) for
the national championship on Tuesday night, March 12 at 8:00pm. The
championship game will be televised live on televised live on CBS Sports
Network.
Official release from IU Southeast sports information
