Ohio Dominican cuts down the nets as Great Midwest Champion - Mar 4, 2018

Fifth-seeded Ohio Dominican defied the odds for the third straight time to be crowned in the title game of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday in Croy Gymnasium.
The Panthers were the underdog in each round as they eliminated No. 4 seed Malone, No. 1 seed Findlay and ultimately, dispatched No. 3 Hillsdale to earn an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championship bracket.
The outcome just wasn't really wasn't in question following a 71-53 final as the Panthers took control from the opening tip and kept the defensively-sound Chargers on their heels playing from behind.
The Panthers were up by as many as 23 with over five minutes to play and the final basket was an appropriate as sophomore big man Hasan Varence flushed home a two-handed alley-oop slam.
ODU's traveling fans celebrated as time expired while the players and coaches ceremoniously cut down the nets and received the championship trophy to transport proudly back to Columbus.
ODU won for the 12th time in 13 games and is ticketed to the Big Dance following the program's remarkable run under head coach Dan Evans .
'It's tremendous to play as well as we did today against such a good team and the emotion from last night to be able to bounce back and play at a high level - it's just awesome,' Evans said afterwards. 'I don't even think it's sunk in for many of us what this means and what it means for our program long term, where we've come from and where we are today. But just for this group to have made this happen, to remain committed to the things that we talk about, that we preach, that's the reason we're here.'
The NCAA Selection Show will be aired on Sunday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on NCAA.com; a streaming link will be sent out on social media outlets (@greatmidwestac) when more information becomes available. The Great Midwest is in great position to place as many as three teams into the NCAA Midwest Regional with Findlay and Hillsdale being at-large selections.
The Panthers executed their game plan on the offensive end early on, working through the athletic Varence down low.
Varence made the game's first basket, a hook shot off glass, before finding the cutter for easy layups on two separate possessions to help ODU get going with a quick start. The first-half success was also highlighted by Shemar Waugh (5'9''-PG) and Alex Stevens (6'8''-F) both hitting incredibly tough turnaround jumpers with the shot clock expiring as the Panthers doubled up the Chargers with 8:43 until halftime.
Waugh scored five straight points early in the second half tp push ODU's lead up to 15 and Ryan Hoyng (6'3''-G), one of last night's heroes against Findlay with a decisive steal, nailed a trey to send the crowd into a frenzy again and force a Chargers timeout.
After sophomore Sam Hickey (6'3''-G) shouldered much of the offensive load in the quarterfinal and semifinal victories, it was Mike DeLeon's turn to produce huge numbers in a reserve role. With a deft ambidextrous touch around the rim, DeLeon scored a game-high 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He was one rebound shy of a double-double.
Hillsdale was 1-of-13 from downtown in the first half with many shots falling short and it was a possible sign of accumulating fatigue from playing three games in three days.
ODU shot almost 52 percent from the field in the first half while the Chargers hit just 9-of-28 around 28 percent.
The Panthers were in the double bonus with over five minutes left to play and sank plenty of free throws as Hillsdale attempted to slow the pace down.

Courtesy of Great Midwest Athletic Conf.

G-MAC Tournament Final: Ohio Dominican - Hillsdale 71-53
G-MAC Tournament Semifinals:
Ohio Dominican - Findlay 68-66
Hillsdale - Lake Erie 75-63