ROME, Ga. - The University of the South men's basketball team upsets top-seed and the 22nd-ranked team in Division III Berry College in the 2023 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Men's Basketball Tournament Championship. The Tigers knocked off the Vikings, 86-82, Sunday afternoon in the Cage Center. The win for the Purple and White snapped Berry's 17-game winning streak.
This is the second SAA Tournament Championship for the University of the South.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final Score: (3) Sewanee (19-9) 86, (1) No. 22 Berry (25-3) 82
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HOW IT HAPPENED
-After Berry started the game with a 3-pointer, Sewanee got on the board with field goals by
Colin Kahl and
Graham Smith.
-Trailing 35-31 with four minutes remaining in the period,
Russ Marr and
Tre Corrigan gve the Tigers the 36-35 lead, and despite a Blake Campbell triple late in the half,
Luka Avaliani's jumper gave Sewanee the 42-41 lead at the break.
-Berry came back to reclaim the lead, 51-44, with 15 minutes left in the second half and later had a nine-point lead. However, an 8-0 run by the Purple and White trimmed the deficit down to one, 58-57, at the under-12 media timeout.
-Going back and forth for the game, Berry did make it a seven-point lead with three minutes to go, but the Tigers began the comeback.
Russ Marr knocked down free throws to make it an 80-75 deficit. After a missed Berry layup and
Graham Smith rebound, Marr drove the paint again and drew the foul with 1:02 to go.
-After converting the three-point play to make it 80-78, Berry drained the clock to and converted a field goal to make the lead four for the Vikings.
-After Marr scored two more from the charity stripe to make it 82-80, the Tigers were forced to foul. Chase Ellis, on the front-end of the one-and-one, missed the shot and Kahl rebounded the ball with 20 seconds to go.
-With 12 seconds remaining, after Marr drove the paint again, he drew the foul and went back to the line. Converting the first from the charity stripe to make it an 82-81 advantage for the Vikings, Marr missed the second shot, but a Smith rebound kept the possession alive. Smith passed to Corrigan on the right wing and he knocked down the 3-pointer to give the Purple Tigers the 84-82 lead with eight seconds to go.
-Berry's last chance saw them turn the ball over. After Smith intercepted the ball, Corrigan ended the game with a slam to clinch Sewanee's second tournament championship game.
-Watch the final play below.
Credit: Berry College
PRESS CONFERENCE
-Hear from
Brian Emerson,
Colin Kahl and
Russ Marr after winning the program's second SAA Championship.
Credit: Berry College
RING SEASON
-Sewanee secures its second SAA Tournament Championship in program history. The Tigers, also on the road against the regular season champion in Centre in 2019, won with a game-winning 3-pointer.
-On Sunday, the University of the South picked up the team's seventh conference championship (1966-73-75-76-97-2019-23).
-Earning the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships, the Tigers make their sixth appearance in the "Big Dance" (1975-76-97-98-2019-23).
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Following the thrilling win, the SAA released the All-Tournament Team:
Cam Glover, Birmingham-Southern
Phil Dotson, Rhodes
Chase Ellis, Berry
Colin Kahl, Sewanee
Russ Marr (MVP), Sewanee
HIGHLIGHTS
SEWANEE KEY STATISTICS
-
Russ Marr led all scorers with 31 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. He also added three blocks.
-
Colin Kahl scored 27 points on 11-of-18 from the field, while
Luka Avaliani picked up 12 points and eight boards.
-
Tre Corrigan added 11 points, while
Graham Smith had eight rebounds, including the offensive board that set up Corrigan's triple with 10 seconds to go.
BERRY KEY STATISTICS
-Chase Ellis scored 24 points, shooting 10-of-22, and added 10 rebounds to lead the Vikings.
-Blake Campbell scored 14 points.
UP NEXT
The 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Selection Show will take place on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT on ncaa.com. Check sewaneetigers.com and social media for updates.
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