Posted: Mar 15, 2010
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo -- Jeremy Shardo's 3-pointer as time expired gave top-seeded Walsh University a dramatic 67-66 win over fourth-seeded Bellevue University as the Cavaliers advanced to the title game of the NAIA Men's Basketball Division II National Tournament Monday night at Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of College of the Ozarks.
Walsh, which led just one other time in the game, improved to 32-2 on the season. Bellevue ended its season at 28-8.
With the Bruins leading 66-64, the Cavaliers' L.J. Sutton missed a short driving jumper with two seconds remaining and fouled \#Avery Tyler\# on the rebound. Tyler missed both free throws to give the Cavaliers one last chance. An inbounds pass to halfcourt was dished off to Shardo who released the winning shot just before the buzzer sounded.
Tyler led the Bruins with 20 points, 15 coming in the opening half as Bellevue led by as many as 15 points. He also nabbed nine rebounds. Senior \#Antoine Dade\# added 12 points and six rebounds. Senior \#Josh Vanderslice\# came off the bench to score nine points.
Shardo led the Cavaliers with 18 points and six rebounds. Lamar Skeeter poured in 10 points and grabbed eight boards.
Tyler scored five-straight points to highlight a 21-6 Bruin run to open the game's first eight minutes, forcing a Walsh timeout.
Bellevue led by 13 points before the Cavaliers closed the half on a 7-0 run to climb to within 37-31 at the intermission.
After Walsh trimmed the lead to four points, 3-pointers by \#Jace Fredenburg\# and Vanderslice and five-consecutive points by Tyler gave Bellevue a 15-point advantage at 50-35 with 14 minutes remaining. Tyler went scoreless the remainder of the contest.
The Cavaliers battled back with six-straight points to cut the lead to single-digits at 50-41 at the 12:32 mark.
After five-straight Bruin points, Walsh used a 12-0 run to pull to within two points at 55-53 with 6:48 left in the game. A 3-point bucket by Brandon Speck gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the game at 59-57 with just over four minutes to go in the contest.
Four-straight Dade free throws keyed an 8-1 Bellevue spurt over the next two minutes to give the Bruins a 65-60 cushion at the two minute mark.
A pair of free throws by Shardo and a short jumper by Sutton cut it to a one-point game at 65-54 with 59 seconds remaining.
\#Jelani Johnson\# made one of two free throws with 24 seconds to go to give BU a 66-64 edge.
Bellevue outshot the Cavaliers 40 to 38.7 percent but Walsh held a 41-32 advantage in rebounds.
The loss was the first for Bellevue in the NAIA Tournament semifinals after the Bruins recorded runner-up finishes in 2004 and 2008.
