As the Concord University men's basketball team entered this weekend's Mountain East Conference tournament, coach Kent McBride offered his Mountain Lions some advice - to be at their best when things were at their worst.
"When we walked out of here [after a 30-point loss to the University of Charleston on Feb. 25], we were daggone near at our worst," he said. "And these guys decided to be their best when they came back."
Believing they needed to win the MEC tournament to ensure their spot in the NCAA Division II regional round, the Mountain Lions grabbed their first Mountain East crown with a 70-64 comeback win Sunday at the Charleston Civic Center over Notre Dame College.
Tournament MVP Rob Reed was held to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting, but fellow all-tournament pick Terry Hopewell scored a team-high 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. The Mountain Lions (22-9) weathered a game-high 23 points and eight assists from Falcons star Tyree Gaiter.
Sunday's title game was a matchup of giant-killers. Concord knocked off No. 1 West Liberty in the semis to reach the final, while Notre Dame (21-11) beat No. 5 Fairmont State and No. 4 Wheeling Jesuit on consecutive nights to get there.
After trailing by double digits twice in the first half, Concord made a couple of major halftime adjustments to shift momentum. The Mountain Lions moved to a zone defense to slow down Gaiter, who had 16 points by intermission. They also made a concerted effort to work more in the post. After shooting 14 3-pointers in the first half, CU shot just eight in the second half, but its work down low led to plenty more trips to the free throw line.
Concord went 4 of 7 from the charity stripe in the first half. It went 19 of 24 from the line in the second half.
"We wanted to get the ball to Jametrius [Wade] in the high post," McBride said. "He was being a really good facilitator and he and Terry work really well together in terms of passing to one another. The free throw attempts came from us going downhill."
Notre Dame's shooting also went downhill in the second half - 21 of the Falcons' 40 second-half attempts came from the 3-point line and they made just two. After making 4 of 7 first-half 3-pointers, Gaiter made just 1 of 9 after halftime.
"There are some games you love halftime and there are some games you hate it," Gaiter said. "This is one where I hated it."
The Gaiter-versus-Reed showdown - much anticipated, considering Gaiter averaged 29.5 points in his first two tournament games and Reed averaged 29 - was a one-sided affair in the first half. Gaiter got hot early, hitting his first three 3-pointers. Reed, whose one-handed bank-shot in double overtime got the Mountain Lions past No. 1 West Liberty, made just 1 of his first 6 shots and 0 of 4 from 3-point range, going into halftime with just two points.
With Reed struggling, Notre Dame led by as many as 13 points in the first half. But the star guard's supporting cast was able to pull the Mountain Lions back into striking distance. Hopewell led the charge, going 4 for 4 in the first half for nine points, while adding six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
"The whole team carried us," Reed said. "I know they helped me get [the MVP award]. I didn't get this on my own. They do everything to put me in spots to make it easy for me."
Aaron Miller's 3-pointer for Concord with 23 seconds left cut the Notre Dame lead to 33-29, which the Falcons took into halftime. The Mountain Lions were hurt by 12 first-half turnovers Notre Dame turned into 16 points.
"Our message at halftime was to stop making mistakes," McBride said. "Stop throwing them the ball, stop giving them offensive rebounds. We will make a shot."
Out of the break, Reed hit two 3-pointers within 49 seconds of each other, which McBride said allowed the team to breathe, relax and play. Concord committed just six second-half turnovers and kept the Falcons on the perimeter.
"It hurts," Notre Dame coach Tim Koenig said. "I'm not going to lie, it hurts. But, hey, they made a couple more shots down the stretch. It was one of those nights we weren't able to make a couple of plays when it counted."
Wade finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Will Voorhees scored 13 points with seven rebounds for Notre Dame, with Kyauta Taylor scoring 18. The all-tournament team included Reed, Hopewell, Taylor, Voorhees, Gaiter, West Liberty's Seger Bonifant and Zac Grossenbacher, and Wheeling Jesuit's Haywood Highsmith.
Much of the spotlight entering this weekend's tournament focused on its top three seeds - West Liberty, Wheeling Jesuit and Fairmont State. But it was the fourth seed that emerged from a wild and tough three days with the trophy.
"This speaks volumes of what the Mountain East has become," McBride said. "You have No. 1, 4 and 5 in the country and everyone was excited to come down and watch the high level of basketball of 1, 4 and 5 in the country. And with all due respect to those programs, they didn't make it through the gauntlet."