A.I.I. News
02.27.2010 - [Men's Basketball - D2]

Johnson & Wales University and Ohio Dominican University each won their semifinal game to advance to the A.I.I. Men's Basketball Division II Championship on Sunday at 3pm MT in Denver to determine who will represent the A.I.I. in Branson, Missouri. The Wildcats punched their ticket to the game with a 64-60 win over Marygrove College while the Panthers outpaced the Walla Walla University. Marygrove and Walla Walla will meet at 1pm MT in the 3rd place game.

Opening the tournament, the Wildcats got off to a sluggish start against the Mustangs of Marygrove. The Mustangs put up big numbers in the first half shooting .577 while the 'Cats couldn't find the basket. The Mustangs also cleaned up when it came to shooting from the charity stripe. The Wildcats were able to connect on 12 of 17 but their .323 shooting from the floor left the Mustangs to take advantage of the tournament hosts. Going into the break, Marygrove found themselves up 40-33. The Wildcats started out the second half without their leading scorer and big man Andrew Baker who was injured in the final minutes of the first half. Marygrove's offense began to get sluggish as they hit only 8 of 22 from the floor. The Wildcats again had poor shooting but were able to convert enough to pull out a 64-60 victory in the final minutes. The Mustangs were led by Chris Sinagoga and Marcus Hopkins who each had 14 points while Justin McKinney brought down a game high 13 rebounds. The 'Cats' Ethan Fisher kept the baskets coming with 17 points while Nate Lark added another 15 points and 8 rebounds.
 
The second game of the night saw Ohio Dominican fighting to keep the game out of the hands of the resilient Walla Walla Wolves. The Wolves opened the game staying basket to basket with the Panthers. Each lead ODU would establish, Walla Walla would quickly bring it back down to a manageable advantage. The Wolves were able to cut the Panthers lead down to 4 going into the break down 43-47. Second half action saw The Wolves were helped with the hot hand of Tristan Edwards who scored big with 23 points and went 10 of 15 from the floor. Ohio Dominican's Aaron Gibbs scored a game high 24 points and also brought down 9 rebounds to keep the game in their favor. In the end, the Wolves weren't able to edge the Panther who walked out with a 86-75 victory.
 
Visit http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Tournament/TournamentPage.aspx?association=10&sg=MBB&tour=354 to keep up with the consolation and championship games and view live stats of the games.