Four plays that decided the Division III national championship game between Amherst and Mary Hardin-Baylor on Sunday at Philips Arena:
The dunk
Play: Mary Hardin-Baylor cut Amherst’s lead to seven with 13:15 left.
Result: Allen Williamson got the Amherst crowd back into the game with a Division I-caliber dunk from the baseline with 12:54 left to stop the Crusaders’ momentum.
The drive
Play: Still, Mary Hardin-Baylor wouldn’t fold, a theme throughout its run to the championship game. Though the Crusaders trailed by 11 with 8:09 left, they showed an ability to attack Amherst’s basket whenever they wanted.
Result: Amherst’s Connor Green showed he could drive, too, completing a three-point play to give the Lord Jeffs a 14-point lead with 7:29 left.
The miss
Play: Mary Hardin-Baylor’s Kitrick Bell misses a layup and then a tip-in a few minutes into the start of the game.
Result: There was still 37 minutes of basketball left to play, but Bell’s miss foreshadowed the problems that the Crusaders had finishing drives. Coach Ken DeWeese said he got a bad feeling after seeing Bell’s first miss because he said he rarely misses layups.
The punctuation
Play: The game was well in hand, but Amherst’s Aaron Toomey, the Division III national player of the year, launches a 3-pointer as the shot clock winds down.
Result: The shot goes in, giving the Lord Jeffs a 17-point lead with 1:43 left. Toomey scored 16 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
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