Virginia Union Returns to Division II Championship Game

Virginia Union Returns to Division II Championship Game

March 23, 2006

Springfield, Mass. – Virginia Union moved to within a game of its second consecutive national title with a 68-63 victory versus Seattle Pacific in a semifinal game of the “Elite Eight” tonight at the MassMutual Center. The Panthers shot 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the floor during the final 20 minutes and controlled the paint by outscoring the Falcons 34-18 from within the key on the evening.

Virginia Union (30-3) will now meet either Winona State (Minn.) or Stonehill in the national championship game on Saturday at 1:00 pm. That contest will be aired live on CBS.

“It’s just great to have the opportunity to play in a title game. We’re just a small church school in Richmond, so anytime we’re on national TV, it’s a great for our school, for our enrollment, for everything,” said Virginia Union head coach Dave Robbins.

It was anybody’s ballgame with the scored tied 63-63 with 2:03 remaining, but the Falcons (26-6) came up empty on their final five possessions to allow the Panthers enough breathing room to punch a ticket to their fourth national championship contest, where they have never lost.

“I thought we got some good looks down the stretch and we just didn’t convert them. We need to do that to be competitive, said Seattle Pacific head coach Jeff Hironaka. “Give them credit, they have been here before. They hit big free throws and got the rebounds they needed.”

Virginia Union junior guard Buster Perkins, who hit the game-winning shot against SIU-Edwardsville in yesterday’s quarterfinal date, came up big again tonight. Perkins made his only two points count by tipping home a miss off a five-foot runner by senior guard Duan Crockett that put Virginia Union ahead 66-63 with 45-seconds remaining. The Panthers then sealed the victory by going 2-for-3 from the foul line on two separate trips.

“Seattle Pacific is a great, great team. It’s phenomenal how well they shoot the ball, how well they are coached and how well they play the game,” said Robbins. I wasn’t lying last night when I said that if we didn’t play much better tonight, we would get beat by 30. That was true. However, we were much better tonight.”

“We stepped up our zone defense tonight. We did a much better job of getting out on the shooters,” said Virginia Union senior guard Darius Hargrove.

“We said that two’s would hurt us, but three’s would kill us and so we made a point of expanding our zone,” added Robbins regarding some of his strategy against a club that entered the game shooting 52.3 percent from the floor, including 40.4 percent from beyond the arc, on the year.

Virginia Union strung together a 19-7 run throughout a nine minute span midway through the second half that converted a 53-44 deficit into a 63-60 lead with 3:23 remaining. Crockett made a layup and Hargrove knocked down a trey to ignite the charge. Sophomore forward Brad Byerson later scored inside while being fouled before junior forward Chris Greene drained a jumper in the paint to cap it. The Panthers never trailed again.

Byerson led Virginia Union with his ninth “double-double” of the year behind 14 points and 11 rebounds. He also had four assists and a steal while logging the entire 40 minutes. Hargrove paced all scorers with 22 points to go with six rebounds, while also staying on the floor for the entire 40-minutes. Greene also wound up with 14 points.

Junior forward Drew Matzen scored 13 of his career-high 19 points after halftime for Seattle Pacific. Senior guard Tony Binetti scored 17 points, handed out seven assists without a turnover and came up with four steals.