Roane State Wins Historic Championship, First To Punch Ticket To Hutch
Dyersburg, TN – The first ticket punched to the NJCAA Big Dance in Hutchinson belongs to a first-timer. In their fifty year history of competing in NJCAA men’s basketball, the Roane State Raiders are going “dancin!”
In overtime, Roane State held off #1 seed Dyersburg State CC 78-75 on the Eagles home court, claiming the historic victory 78-75. History would’ve been made regardless of the winner, neither program had ever made it to Hutch to play in the National Tournament.
The win puts Roane State at 18-9, who will now wait for the NJCAA selection show (Sunday, March 6 on NJCAA TV) to see who and when they play as well as their seed. The only negative about today’s Raider win…and they don’t realize it yet, is the two weeks before they make their maiden appearance on Sam Butterfield Court inside the Sports Arena.
Most of the other Districts crown their champions on the last day allowed by the NJCAA, two Saturdays before the week of the tourney. That is still a minimum of nine days before a teams first game.
In his first season at the control box of Roane State, HC Alan Holt has fulfilled the dream of fifty years of Raider basketball frustration. It’s always fun to be the first, right? First year coach, first Region/District Championship, first time to Hutch. Look out Kansas, here comes the Roane State Raiders.
Look out Raiders, and Coach Holt, here comes Hutch, and all of the unknowns and anxiety that comes with it. I don’t think any of that is going to stop them from making the trip though. Besides, there’s got to be a first time before the second. And, even though it can be an overwhelming and stressful event, several teams have fared well their first trip.
The game resembled a national tournament game. And it almost ended in regulation. Roane State had a three point lead with :11 ticks left. After two Raider FTs, Dyersburg’ Turbo Smith took the inbound pass and raced up the right sideline toward the corner. Stopping suddenly, I think almost everyone in the gym and watching online (including me) thought a three was going up.
Not the case, Turbo passed back to the right wing to Gavin Wilburn, who had set a screen for him. Whether or not Wilburn was the one supposed to fling it didn’t matter, he was covered by the guy he screened.
Instead, Wilburn tossed it over to Creshaun Brown at the top of the key. Smith was open for a three…momentarily. But a Raider defender came charging at him, so Smith calmly pump faked as the defender flew by, then almost flat footed, fired up the triple.
Still in pose, Smith watched it. Like it was in slow motion replay, as the ball softly skimmed the rim and flushed slowly around it like a hoola hoop move. When everyting went back to full speed, the ball found its way to the bottom of the net, tying the game at 68. With only a tick and a half left, Roane got off a 3/4 court heave that was off the mark.
Two teams fighting for their first big time meaningful championship, tied at end of regulation!! Does it get any better than that. OT baby!!
The extra five minutes were just as intense as the end of regulation, but Alec Kegler kept the Raiders on top with dead-eye FT shooting down the stretch. For the game, Kegler was the Raiders leading scorer with a game high 25, going 11-12 on his free tosses.
Kegler was Mr. Everything for Roane State as he also was game high with 16 rebounds for a Championship Game double-double, and added a team high three assists. In support of Kegler, the Raiders got 14 from Floyd Williams, 13 from Isaiah Poore, and ten by Amauri Young. Williams and Poore each grabbed four boards. Austin McKeehan only scored six, but found his way to 14 rebounds, teaming with Kegler to give the Raiders a plus 5 margin there.
Dyersburg, now 28-3, sees one of it not their most successful season ever, come to an end. One victory short of a District Championship. They were led by Greg Gordon’s 21 points on 9-14 FG shooting. Jordan “Turbo” Smith had 19, with 6 boards and 5 helpers. Wilburn finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
The Eagles led 37-31 at half, but the scores completely flipped in the second.
Dyersburg will also be in wait and see mode. Will their 28-3 record and TCCAA regular season Title, be enough to earn one of the eight At-large bids offered by the NjCAA selection committee?
I’m not sure. Dyersburg was right on the edge of the top 25 most of the season, and slipped inside that barrier a time or two. It would probably be enough if the tournament issued 16 free passes instead of the 8, and in that case, I’d say hell yes.
With only eight however, it will really depend heavily on how all of the top teams ranked ahead of them do in their respective post-seasons. Those 8 At-large disappear quickly if their are a lot of major upsets between now and Saturday.
Although the chances seem slim, it’s still a possibility. Last season, in a shortened 22 game schedule, a couple of 6 loss teams (not ranked in top twenty) slipped by a couple of teams ranked in the top 15 or so all year (one in the top ten) to claim At-large berths. So there’s that.
One thing I’ve learned over the 8 previous years of the “new” format, the selections the At-large selections have become more unpredictable than in the early days.
Follow all District schedules and scores throughout post-season and continued through the National Tournament right here on jucohoopscoop.com. Find the 2022 link under the District Championship header on the Home page.
