Box Score
FORT SMITH, Ark. — St. Mary's
Moses Sundufu passed on his pregame meal Friday, saying he likes that “hungry feeling” on game nights.
Hours later, he and his teammates finally feasted with a shot at the Heartland Conference postseason championship at stake.
Sundufu drained an off-balance 3-pointer in the waning seconds of regulation to force overtime, where the Rattlers blitzed Newman in the conference-tournament semifinals 93-79 at Arkansas-Fort Smith's Stubblefield Center.
“I shoot shots like that all the time,” said Sundufu (Sr., Hopkins, Minn.), who had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. “I take the crazy shots on the team. I felt like I could make it and that the team needed it.”
After trailing by 11 with 4:50 remaining, St. Mary's (20-7), the tournament's No. 2 seed, outscored No. 3 seed Newman (20-7) 34-9 over the final 3:40 of regulation and through overtime to advance to Saturday's Heartland Conference Tournament championship game.
The Rattlers will play top-seeded Arkansas-Fort Smith at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Against Newman,
Daryell Taylor (Sr., Houston) led St. Mary's with 22 points and the Heartland's Player of the Year,
Kevin Kotzur (Sr., La Vernia, Texas), added 18 points and 10 boards for his 16th double-double of the season. Point guard
Christian Bower (Jr., Chandler, Ariz.) chipped in four points, five boards and six assists while logging more minutes — 43 — than anyone else in the game.
Add that all up and you had the look of a “hungry” team.
“We wanted to win,” Sundufu said. “It's my senior year. There are a lot of seniors on the team. We've had talks about it, what we want to do. We have a special team and were fortunate that our practice and hard work paid off.”
In a jubilant locker room afterward, head coach
Jim Zeleznak praised his squad, saying it took “all 12 guys” to win the game. Truer words were never spoken.
With three starters sitting out much of the first half in foul trouble, St. Mary's turned to its bench to stay in the game.
Fred Wilson (Jr., Seattle) was the first to step up from the pine, providing spirited play on both ends of the floor while logging seven points and three rebounds in the frame.
His performance helped the red-hot Rattlers carry a 44-43 lead into the break as they shot nearly 75 percent from the floor (17 of 23) in the frame, including going 5 for 5 from downtown.
That latter number was where
John Roberts helped save the game.
Roberts (San Antonio), one of six seniors on the squad, scored a season-high nine points on a trio of 3-pointers — one of which was practically shot from Oklahoma — to help keep the Rattlers afloat with more than half their starting lineup saddled with foul problems.
At halftime, Zeleznak said they would look back at Roberts as one of the keys if they were to pull through with the victory.
“I played my role,” Roberts said. “I wasn't trying to do anything out of the ordinary. I know my role on the team, but tonight I had to step up.”
Keeping with that theme was backup post
Joe Monroe (RS-So., San Antonio), who scored two of the Rattlers' first three buckets in overtime to set an aggressive pace that the Rattlers would not relinquish.
It was the look of a hungry team — fitting for a squad that breaks its huddles with, “Let's eat!”
“We just get hungry during games,” Monroe said.
The Rattlers will attempt to feast once more Saturday.
St. Mary's University, as a Catholic Marianist University, fosters the formation of people in faith and educates leaders for the common good through community service, integrated liberal arts and professional education, and academic excellence. The University has six athletic national titles: men's basketball (1989–NAIA), baseball (2001–NCAA Div. II), softball (1986–NAIA and 2002–NCAA Div. II) and an individual national champion in men's golf (2006–NCAA Div. II) and a national academic championship in men's golf (2009–NCAA Div. II). St. Mary's also had more than 40 percent of its athletes named to conference, regional and/or national honor rolls this past year. St. Mary's student–athletes graduation rate is 65 percent, higher than the NCAA Division II average of 55 percent. To learn more about St. Mary's, visit www.rattlerathletics.com.
