King defeats Blufield in a close contest
for the AAC men's basketball championship! |
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KING COLLEGE - Those who turned in their ballots on time could be forgiven if
they failed to consider
Mark
Dockery (6'5''-G) for tournament MVP. That's because votes were supposed to
be tallied with 10 minutes remaining in the game and, at that point, the King
College men's basketball team trailed Bluefield College by 16 points.
So, they didn't see Dockery score 17 points in the final 10 minutes. They didn't
see him make five-straight 3-pointers in that span. They didn't see the
sophomore guard lead the Tornado from 22 down to conference-tournament champions
in a matter of minutes. Buoyed by Dockery and a resurgent defense King defeated
Bluefield, the No. 7-ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate
Athletics, 86-85 in a stirring Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament
championship at the Student Center Complex. Fortunately, however, enough of the
electorate were tardy in their balloting, witnessed the hottest streak of
Dockery's young career and appointed him tournament MVP. 'I can't remember a
streak like that, not like that,' Dockery said. 'This is one of the greatest
comebacks I've ever been a part of. I can't wrap my head around it.' Neither
could the nearly sold out Student Center Complex. For 30 minutes, the
championship bout appeared a dud. Bluefield was 10-of-18 from behind the 3-point
arc in the first half and the Rams forced the Tornado into 12 turnovers, while
committing only five themselves. Bluefield led 50-37 heading into halftime.
King coach
George
Pitts makes it a habit not to look at scoreboards during a game, but even
the third-year coach couldn't help and sneak a peak early in the second half.
Bluefield 66, King 44 glared back at him. Thoughts of the Rams' 94-71 rout of
the Tornado in early February reverberated through the silent King fan base.
'I remember telling one of my assistants, Shane [Williams], ‘Bluefield's going
to score 115,' ' Pitts said. 'When you get behind like that, all we were trying
to do was play solid [defense]. To be honest with you, I wasn't thinking about
winning the game at that point … To say I'm proud of my guys is a tremendous
understatement.'
Besides Dockery, who finished with a game-high 25 points, Pitts has the usual
suspects to thank for the Tornado's second-consecutive AAC Tournament title.
Kyle
Savely (5'11''-G-86) was one rebound away from a triple-double, with 20
points, 10 assists and nine rebounds before fouling out with 31.9 second left on
the clock.
JT
Blair (6'2''-G) hustled his way to eight rebounds and a spot of the
all-tournament team alongside Savely. Senior Ben Bosse scored 13 points and
grabbed seven rebounds in his last game at the Student Center. But King also
received significant help from little-played DeShaun Greer. The freshman entered
Saturday's game averaging 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds, but no one received a
louder cheer when the Tornado cut down the net. 'On our team, you don't know
who's going to step up,' Pitts said. 'But I talked to [Greer] today, because the
thing DeShaun can do is rebound, and I told him, ‘You just rebound.' ' Greer did
just that. He finished with only seven boards, but six of them came on the
offensive end playing against the conference's top rebounder, Bluefield's
Omar
Reed (6'5''-F). He also gave the Tornado 11 points in the first half.
Bluefield's first loss since Jan. 4 amounted to a tale of two halves. After
shooting 56 percent on 3-pointers in the first half, Bluefield missed all 10 of
their attempts in the second half. AAC Player of the Year
Curtis Dixon (6'3''-G/F) scored 20 points in the first half, but managed
only four after intermission. 'They key to the whole thing was they outworked
us,' Bluefield coach
Jason
Gillespie said. 'We lead the nation in offensive rebounds per game. [King]
gets 18 to our 10. That sums it up right there.' Bluefield had a chance to win
it with three seconds remaining. A missed shot and a scuffle for the rebound
skipped the ball right into
Johnny Witherspoon (5'10''-G)'s hands in the right corner. But the guard's
3-pointer fell short and King grabbed the rebound and the game. 'I wasn't
thinking the worst, to be honest,' Dockery said. 'I couldn't believe he got open
… I was just praying it wouldn't go in and when it came off [the rim] I was just
hoping we'd get the rebound, or time would run out or something.'
Though the Tornado had already earned a bid into the NAIA National Tournament in
Point Lookout, Mo., on March 11-17, Pitts said he hopes Saturday's victory is a
motivating factor for the tournament. The Tornado were bounced in the first
round in each of the past two years. 'I hope it's big,' Pitts said. 'But we've
won the last two years and it proved to not be big, because we faltered out
there both years. We're going to play a top-10 team, and I just hope that we can
pick up where we left off.'
Courtesy of Bristol Herald Courier
Tournament Final: King - Bluefield 86-85
Tournament Semifinals:
King - Mulligan 83-57
Bluefield - Union 85-76
AAC All-Tournament MVP:
Mark
Dockery of King
AAC All-Tournament Team
Curtis Dixon of Bluefield
Omar
Reed of Bluefield
Johnny Witherspoon of Bluefield
JT
Blair of King
Mark
Dockery of King
Kyle
Savely of King
| All-AAC 1st Team 2008-09 |
Dixon |
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Reed |
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Ross |
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Savely |
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Njoku |
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All-AAC 1st Team
Curtis Dixon of Bluefield
Omar
Reed of Bluefield
Coryon Ross (6'3''-G/F) of Bluefield
Kyle
Savely of King
Matt
Njoku (6'3''-G) of Montreat
All-AAC 2nd Team
Scott
Newton of Bryan
Jeff
Barnes (6'7''-C) of Milligan
Willie Maclin (6'6'') of Tennessee Wesleyan
Beau
Brown (6'3''-F) of Union
Akeem
Price of Virginia Intermont
All-AAC 3rd Team
Johnny Witherspoon of Bluefield
Lamarr Shorts of Bryan
Ben
Bosse (6'7''-C) of King
Mark
Dockery of King
Adam
Hood (6'2''-G) of UVA-Wise
AAC All-Freshman Team
Stephen Buchanan of Covenant
Eddie
Piccinini (6'0''-G) of King
Darrell Miller (6'7''-G) of Milligan
Jesse
Booher of Tennessee Wesleyan
Josh
Jordan of UVA-Wise
AAC All-Defensive Team
Omar
Reed of Bluefield
Coryon Ross of Bluefield
Johnny Witherspoon of Bluefield
Kyle
Savely of King
Willie Maclin of Tennessee Wesleyan
AAC All-Academic Team
Andrew Slikker (6'3''-G/F) of Bryan
Kyle
Terry (6'0''-G) of Bryan
Reed
Crosson of Covenant
Stephen Johnson of Covenant
Matt
Taylor of Covenant
Ben
Bosse of King
Jeff
Barnes of Milligan
Brad
Barham (6'1'') of Tennessee Wesleyan
Nathan Beckley (6'2''-G) of Union
Brett
Miller (6'9''-F) of Union
Travis Brannon of UVA-Wise
Pance
Kecev (-87) of UVA-Wise
Eric
Swords of UVA-Wise
Jamie
Butler of Virginia Intermont
AAC Player of the Year:
Curtis Dixon of Bluefield
AAC Defensive Player of the Year:
Johnny Witherspoon of Bluefield
AAC Freshman of the Year:
Jesse
Booher of Tennessee Wesleyan
AAC Coach of the Year:
Jason
Gillespie of Bluefield
Pitts
