ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The 19th-ranked North Park University men's basketball team overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat 18th-ranked Washington University, 72-69, on the home floor of the Bears in St. Louis in a second-round NCAA Division III tournament contest.
The win propels North Park (24-5) into the sectional semifinals, where this coming Friday they will face Mount Union on the home floor of the third-ranked Purple Raiders in Alliance, OH at 7:45 PM EST.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with eight lead changes. North Park ran out to a quick 11-5 lead on a Shamar Pumphrey pull-up jumper in the lane at the 17:07 mark, but the Bears roared back with a 10-2 run of their own to take their first lead at 14-13 with 13:42 remaining in the half. The game then seesawed back and forth, with the bigger and more deliberate Bears manufacturing points with the shot clock winding down and the Vikings answering quickly each time.
Washington took the initiative in the final five minutes of the half, breaking a 29-29 tie with a 14-4 run to go into the locker room with a 43-33 lead. The run featured three treys from Bears freshman reserve Will Grudzinski.
After another round of trading baskets to open the second half, a Hayden Doyle three-pointer pushed the Bears out to their biggest lead at 49-35 with 16:08 left in the game, electrifying the large and raucous contingent of home-team faithful. Marquise Jackson sliced through the Washington defense for a layup 15 seconds later, Kolden Vanlandingham followed up with another driving layup at 14:51, and the Vikings began the long road to get themselves back in the game.
But this NPU team is characterized by quick runs that are primed by causing turnovers, and it would take until the game's final nine minutes for the Vikings to manufacture their signature run on this night. After a Charlie Jacobs trey brought the Wash U lead back into double figures at 61-51 with 9:36 left, the Vikings rattled off a 9-0 run that culminated in another Vanlandingham layup at 7;06 to bring the Vikings to within a point. The Bears pushed the lead back out to four at 64-60 with 6:13 to go, but buckets by Vanlandingham and Pumphrey knotted up the affair at 64 apiece with just under five minutes remaining. A pair of Jordan Boyd free-throw makes gave NPU its first lead of the second half, and after two more ties at 66 and at 68 the Vikings went ahead for good with a made Jordan Boyd free throw at 2:17, a Wash U shot clock violation forced by outstanding North Park defense, and a Jackson layup with 1:22 to go, as the Vikings finished off their outstanding comeback victory.
Quick Hits:
- Kolden Vanlandingham led all scorers with 24 points.
- Marquise Jackson was the only other Viking to reach double figures, scoring 22.
- The Vikings were outshot from the field and from three-point range, and outrebounded by three, but won the game in classic North Park fashion by getting 11 more field goal attempts and 14 more free throw attempts than the Bears, courtesy of 21 Wash U turnovers to only eight for NPU.
What's Next?
North Park joins an important group of 16 teams advancing to the second weekend of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Vikings will face No. 3 Mount Union on Friday, March 10, inside Timken Gymnasium.
