Morrow, Loughney medal in Hershey
Wrestling
North Penn’s William Morrow lost by decision 7-4 to Norwin’s John Altieri 7-4 in the PIAA quarterfinals at 145 pounds on Saturday.
Morrow fell twice more in consolations and settled for 8th place at 145 pounds in Hershey.
“I came in here expecting and hoping to place higher and it didn’t work out that way,” Morrow said. “I need to feed off it and come back next year and get to the top of the podium.”
La Salle’s Regan Loughney lost in the quarterfinals to Kiski Area’s Sammy Starr by fall in 35 seconds at 172 pounds. Lougney bounced
back by going 1-2 in consolations, settling for 7th place in the state.
Diving
GESING SHINES >> Abington’s Conor Gesing took 2nd in PIAA 3A Diving with 510.90 points on Saturday, falling short to David Manelis of Fox Chapel with a 535.30 score. La Salle’s Liam Keenan checked in with a sixth-place showing.
Boys Basketball
DOCK 56, MAST 47 >> The Pioneers won a tuneup for states on Saturday. Nathan Lapp paced Dock by scoring 21 points, going 9-of-10 from the free throw line. Steve Martin added 16, including 13 in the fourth quarter. Dock will play Executive Education of Charter on Wednesday.
NASHVILLE, TENN. >> Herbert Jones drove for a goahead layup with 19.5 seconds and No. 6 Alabama won the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1991, holding off a late flurry to edge LSU 80-79 Sunday.
Coach Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide added to their regular-season title with a victory that should help Alabama at least match its highest seed ever in the NCAA Tournament — it was No. 2 in both 1987 and 2002.
Alabama, the reigning national champions in football, won its seventh tournament title overall, second in the SEC only to Kentucky’s 31. The Crimson Tide (24-6) hadn’t even reached this game since 2002.
After Jones went a long way down the lane for his shot, Alabama turned to its defense.
Keon Ellis blocked a shot by LSU’s Javonte Smart and the Tigers took a timeout with just over seven seconds left to set up the final attempt.
After the inbounds pass went nearly to midcourt, Trendon Watford’s 3 was wel short of the rim. Aundre Hyatt’s putback hit the back of the rim and bounced out and LSU couldn’t get another shot off in the scramgle before the buzzer.
That set off yet another Alabama celebration — this time on the basketball court.
Hyatt, meanwhile, was on the floor with his head in his hands. Watford was on his knees and slammed the court with a hand.
Jones, both the SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Jaden Shackelford led Alabama with 21 points, and Ellis and Jahvon Quinerly each had 14.
LSU (18-9) hadn’t won this tournament since 1980, and this was the Tigers’ first time in the final since 1993.
Watford finished with a career-high 30 points for LSU. Smart added 21 and Cameron Thomas had 18.
About 20 minutes before tip-off, Alabama and LSU players had to be separated at midcourt. That was just a preview of the taut battle to follow.
Alabama scored the first eight points of the game only to see LSU answer with a 15-5 run of its own to take a 15-13 lead on Thomas’ third 3 of the game. Alabama scored the final seven of the half and took a 40-37 lead into halftime.
Neither team led by more than four in the second half. Alabama was up 56-52 on a free throw by Jones. Smart hit backto-back 3s with Thomas scoring on a layup, giving LSU a 60-56 lead midway through the half.
Shackelford answered with his own back-toback 3s before Gary’s layup made it 64-60 with 8:20 left.
Shackelford hit his fifth 3 with 6:54 to go giving Alabama its biggest lead since the opening minutes at 69-63. But LSU, especially Watford or Smart, kept answering to set up the thrilling finish.
BIG PICTURE
LSU: The Tigers took very good care of the ball with only five turnovers that Alabama turned into six points. But the secondhighest scoring team in the SEC couldn’t make the shot at the end to win.
Alabama: The Tide’s starters had plenty of help, outscoring LSU 28-0 in bench points. The Tide also outrebounded LSU 50-43.
UP NEXT
LSU is expecting to make consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2005 and 2006.
Alabama will make the 21st NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.
COLGATE 85, LOYOLA, MD. 72 >> Tucker Richardson scored 17 points and Jordan Burns and Jack Ferguson 16 each to lead Colgate to a 85-72 win over Loyola (Maryland) on Sunday for the Patriot League tournament championship.
Colgate (14-1) advances to its fourth NCAA Tournament where its never won. Its last appearance came in 2019.
The top-seeded Raiders, in their fourth straight Patriot title game, led the entire way in extending their program-record win streak to 13.
“This is as unified a group as I’ve ever been around,” Colgate coach Matt Langel said. “I mean, with everything that’s going on in the world. They’ve been able to have difficult conversations and grow as a group and, you know, amidst COVID and all the obstacles that we face, they just keep coming back for more, and so they love one another.”
They Raiders made 14 of 23 3-point attempts for 61%,
including 7 of 9 in the second half when they pulled away. Richardson had four 3-pointers and four teammates also hit from the arc.
Ryan Moffatt added 11 points and Nelly Cummings 10 for Colgate, which came in averaging over 86.4 points per game, tied with Baylor second only to Gonzaga.
Loyola (6-11) came into the tournament as the ninth seed and a record of 4-10 after not starting play until mid-January and getting off to a 1-7 start, The Greyhounds trailed only 38-33 at halftime, but an 11-2 run put Colgate up by 17 midway through the second half and the lead remained comfortably in double figures.
Jaylin Andrews scored 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting for Loyola. Santi Aldama, sixth in the country in scoring at 21.8 ppg, finished with 13 points after scoring 33 in a semifinal win over Army. Isaiah Hart added 11 points. The Greyhounds shot 47% but made only 5 of 22 3-point attempts.
The two teams didn’t meet during the regular season as the league split into three regional miniconferences because of COVID-19 concerns. Colgate, which began play Jan. 2., faced only three different opponents until reaching
the conference tournament.
Now it is on to the NCAAs where the Raiders know they have a monumental task ahead. In its NCAA Tournament history, Colgate has faced two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2.
“These guys will remember this for the rest of their lives so we’ll have a couple days to get ready for somebody who’s really good,” Langel said. “We’ll have to put a game plan together. I know that our guys will pay attention and now they’ll be super excited, I think we’re really good team, we’ve got a lot of dangerous weapons, and can hurt you in a lot of ways and so if we can find a way to defend and keep somebody from getting easy shots against us, I think we really like our group and I know they’ll be ready to go.” ST. BONAVENTURE 74, VCU 65 >> Kyle Lofton scored 23 points and Osun Osunniyi scored 14 points with 12 rebounds and St. Bonaventure beat VCU 74-65 on Sunday in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
St. Bonaventure (16-4) entered the A-10 tournament as the conference’s top seed after clinching the regular season crown. The Rams (19-7) were seeded No. 2 and now will have to await its NCAA Tournament fate,
hoping for an at-large bid.
The Bonnie’s Alejandro Vasquez buried a 3-pointer with 11:36 before halftime to break a tie at 12 and St. Bonaventure led the rest of the way.
VCU’s Josh Banks made 1 of 2 foul shots to reduce the Bonnies’ lead to 27-22 with 4:33 remaining before the break. Both teams struggled shooting to close the half and St. Bonaventure went to halftime up 32-25.
The game’s turning point occurred when Lofton buried a jump shot and followed with a 3-pointer to make it 46-34 with 12:03 remaining.
Shortly after, a light scrum started between the two squads and VCU’s Hason Ward and the Bonnie’s Dominick Welch each received technical fouls. That followed Adrian Baldwin Jr.’s foul on Lofton’s 3 attempt. When the dust settled, Lofton made five straight free throws for a 51-36 advantage with 11:26 left and the Bonnies stayed in control for the remainder.
VCU closed within seven points on four occasions but couldn’t get closer.
Welch scored 13 points for the Bonnies and Jalen Adaway 10.
Nah’Shon Hyland scored 21 points for VCU, Vince Williams 12 and Banks 10.