Late Adams 3-Pointer Sends Yotes to NAIA Quarterfinals

Box Score SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Last season, the College of Idaho saw their season ended on a coast-to-coast lay-up with 16 seconds left against Union (Ky.) – who went on to win the NAIA national title.
 
Tonight inside Sanford Pentagon, Roosevelt Adams wrote his name into tournament lore – draining a long 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to cap an 11-2 run – as the Coyotes survived Dakota Wesleyan, 62-60, in the second-round of the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Championships, presented by Cypress Risk Management.
 
The Coyotes (29-6) will meet No. 6-seed Marian (Ind.) in the national quarterfinals tomorrow night at 7 p.m. (MT) – with the game broadcast live on 99.1-FM ESPN Boise.
 
"This team deserves what just happened because of the work they have put in all year," said head coach Scott Garson. "They jumped into a zone to try to switch it up on us and we kept our poise and we've been saying all year, when in doubt, find Rose on the perimeter and boy did it come through for us tonight."
 
Trailing 58-51 with just under three minutes to play, the Yotes (29-6) rallied in front of a partisan DWU crowd that made the 70-mile trip from Mitchell, S.D.  Keun Palu-Thompson split two free throws and Adams added a driving lay-up to cut the margin to 58-54. After the Tigers (23-11) were called for a charge, Nate Bruneel converted a contested lay-up to make it a one-possession game.
 
A pair of free throws after Aziz Leeks' fifth foul by Jason Spicer gave DWU a 60-56 lead, but answered with a baseline drive that turned into a 3-point play, getting the Yotes within a point with 31 seconds left.
 
Following a timeout, Adams intercepted a long inbounds pass by the Tigers – and facing a zone defense, drained the top of the key triple to give the Yotes just their third lead of the half.  DWU had one last chance, but Ty Hoglund was denied a shot by Adams – finding Nygel Drury in the corner, who missed the 3-pointer at the horn.
 
Despite a season-low 3-for-19 shooting from 3-point range and losing the battle on the glass for the first time in 2018 – the Coyote defense proved the difference, as DWU fell to 0-4 this season when scoring under 70 points.
 
The Yotes trailed 6-2 early in the contest – but Talon Pinckney and Gibson Berryhill each scored six points in a 15-2 run that gave C of I their largest lead of the night at 17-8.  Spicer led the DWU comeback, scoring 16 of his game-high 28 points in the opening 20 minutes, as the Tigers cut the margin to just 28-26 at the break.
 
DWU controlled the majority of the second half, taking a 50-44 lead on a long Trae Vandeberg 3-pointer with 7:38 to play. C of I answered with seven-straight points, capped by a Leeks dunk and a 3-point play, to regain the lead at 51-50. However, two buckets by Spicer and a Hoglund triple gave the Tigers the cushion late – but could not seal the victory.
 
Adams led the Yotes with 14 points and seven rebounds, with Bruneel scoring all 12 of his points in the second half. Pinckney had 12 points and three steals, with Berryhill, Leeks and Palu-Thompson all scoring eight.
 
Hoglund had 13 points and Collin Kramer had seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds in the loss for DWU.
 
NOTES: The Yotes advance to their seventh national quarterfinal – and second in the past four seasons…C of I is 1-5 in previous quarterfinal match-ups, the one win, an 87-79 victory over Wisconsin Lutheran in 1996, en route to the national title…Leeks had seven rebounds in the game, establishing the single-season rebound record in the shot clock era (335)…DWU had six players play 199 or the 200 minutes in the contest…attendance was 2,600, including 60 C of I fans.