Washington University’s men’s basketball (19-6, 10-4 UAA) team failed to defend its UAA title, falling to the University of Chicago (18-7, 11-3 UAA) 74-66 in the final regular season game which was also conference championship match.
“After losing, you always feel like you can play better,” said senior captain Troy Ruths. “In the end it was a good game.
Early on, the Bears looked poised to defend their title. They opened the game by going on a 13-2 run, highlighted by six points from Ruths. The Red and Green maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the first part of the first half.
At the nine minutes to go mark, Chicago, one of the best three-point shooting teams in Division III, finally heated up behind the arc. They made six three-pointers in the next seven minutes to tie the game up before making a seventh with 47 seconds remaining in the half to take their first lead of the game into the locker room.
“Lapses in defense became apparent,” said junior Tyler Nading. “They went on runs where they got a ton of open looks.”
The Maroons went on to control the tempo of the second half of the game, opening with an 11-2 run. With 7:33 remaining in the game, the Bears were able to tie everything up at 56 apiece on a three from sophomore Aaron Thompson. Wash. U. could not however turn this tie into a lead. Chicago was able to pull away once and for all in the final minute of play on free throws.
Ruths led the team with a game-high of 24 points; Thompson had 18 on 3-of-4 three-point shooting. Nading added 12. Sophomore point guard Ross Kelley led the team in rebounds, with eight.
Nading and sophomore Cameron Smith both fouled out in the final two minutes guarding Chicago star Nate Hainje who had 19 points and 11 rebounds as he was honored on Senior Day. Adam Machones also led the Maroons with 18 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting while point guard Jake Pancratz added 15 points and nine assists while Matt Corning scored 11.
Chicago, picked to finish toward the bottom of the conference in the preseason poll, won a surprise UAA title with their win on Saturday. With this win, they also received the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA postseason tournament.
The Bears will have to wait until this afternoon to learn if they received an at-large berth. As the team was ranked second in the last regional rankings, the odds are in their favor to receive a bid.