ERIE, P.A. – The Medaille College men's basketball team played in the 2021-22 AMCC Championship Game against the La Roche Redhawks. In one of their most exciting finishes of the season, the Mavericks won 71-70 with only seconds left. The Medaille Mavericks are the 2021-22 AMCC Champions!
The Redhawks got it started with a second-chance jumper. Rodney Graves drove right down the court after making a tough layup, while getting fouled in the process. After a possession change from both teams, the Redhawks sunk a three to jump ahead. Graves hits his own at 17 minutes. La Roche continues to take shots from behind the arc, but the Mavs are proving to be more successful in their three-point shots at this point. At 14:30 Graves grabbed a big steal to send it to Jaqwan Washington to go up 12-10. The Redhawks answered right back with a layup. At 12:49, the Redhawks went up by two scores. Travis Sanders cut that down with a made free-throw. Shots began to stop falling for the Mavericks. At 10:27, McGill makes a layup with an and-one, and ties it back up. Graves hit a three from Kendall McGill to push the Mavs ahead. At 7:52, the Redhawks continue with momentum, score a layup and get fouled to go up by six. After the free-throw, Wilcott went in for the bucket. He made it, and drew the and-one. The Mavs are now within four. Wilcott made another layup, which brings them back to a four-point deficit with 5:30 remaining in the half. The Redhawks made a three to boost their lead. There were a lot of missed shots for the Mavs in the final minutes of the first half. McGill drove in for a layup to end the half. The Redhawks lead going into halftime, 36-29.
Graves gets the second half started with a quick layup. The Redhawks answer back quickly with a dunk. The Mavs turned it over soon after, and the Redhawks dunk again. This started a momentum shift in favor of La Roche. At 18:47, McGill made a layup. Dante Moultrie grabbed an offensive rebound on the Redhawks' next possession, and Graves drew a foul. He makes them both to put the Mavs within seven points. After a missed shot from La Roche, Moultrie grabs the rebound and drives to the basket. Makes it, 45-37. The Mavs had some work to do. McGill grabbed a steal at 15:45 and makes a fastbreak layup. Even after that, the score started to get away from the Mavs. They were starting to play frustrated. They were still in it. At 12:52, Wilcott sunk a three from Graves. This ignited a spark to the offense. Trevor Young made an important layup on a second-chance shot. The Mavs were still struggling to grab rebounds on defense. With 11 minutes left, the Redhawks lead by 11. Threes were much more successful in this half for the Redhawks. At 8:11 McGill makes a jumper to get within 10. This would start a Mavs' comeback. Jorarei Bile made an impressive tip-in layup. Then Bryce Smith made a quick layup right from an inbound at 6:49. The score was now 61-54. At 5:08, Smith strikes again with a beautiful three from Washington on a fastbreak. This was huge for the Mavs. Off of a bad pass from the Redhawks, Bile grabbed a steal. Graves made a three from Moultrie soon after. They were now within five. McGill drives in and draws a foul at 4:02 and makes both, making it 65-62. Just three points away. The Redhawks made a layup on their next possession. At 2:42, Graves sunk a pull-up three making it 67-65. It was a game now! McGill was fouled at 2:02, and makes both. It's now a tie game. Bile went up for another second-chance shot, and makes it. The Mavs took the lead at 1:17. With 46 seconds left, the Redhawks hit a three, pulling ahead 70-69. The Mavs foul at 23 seconds, but alane violation from Hawks gave the ball back to the Mavs. McGill makes a layup at 12 seconds. The Mavs now lead 71-70. The Mavs dive for a loose ball that brought the refs in for a conference. The Redhawks get the ball, but there were only seconds left on the clock. They couldn't get the ball back to the hoop, and the Mavericks win 71-70. They are the 2021-22 AMCC Champions!
Game leaders for the Mavericks were McGill with 20 points going 7-16 with one three, five rebounds, three assists, and one steal, Graves with 18 points going 6-15 with four threes, three rebounds, one assist, and two steals, and Wilcott with 10 points going 3-5 with one three and two rebounds.
With this win, the Mavericks will now advance the NCAA Tournament. They will find out their opponent during the selection show on Monday at 12:30 p.m.
