New Mexico State: 2018-19 Western Athletic Men's Basketball Champions

For the second straight year, the Grand Canyon men's basketball team came one win away from earning its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

And for the second straight year, it was top-seeded New Mexico State that dashed the Lopes' dream.

New Mexico State routed GCU 89-57 in Saturday night's WAC Tournament championship game at the Orleans Arena to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies, who won all three of their matchups with GCU this season, defeated the Lopes 72-58 in last year's championship game in the same venue.

Everything went right for the Lopes in the first five minutes of Saturday's game, as they jumped out to a 10-2 lead and had the thousands of Lopes fans in attendance on their feet. But it was all Aggies, who won their 19th straight game, the rest of the way. NMSU out-shot, out-rebounded and out-defended GCU, to the delight of the NMSU fans who made the trip from Las Cruces.

Junior guard Carlos Johnson, who scored career highs in the Lopes' wins in the WAC Tournament quarterfinals and semifinals -- 66 total points in the two games -- was held to nine points on 3 of 9 shooting Saturday.

GCU shot just 7 of 30 from 3-point range, NMSU went 17 of 39 from beyond the arc.

Coached by former Phoenix Suns star Dan Majerle, GCU is in its sixth year at the NCAA Division I level, but this was just its second season of NCAA Tournament eligibility. Saturday's result means the Lopes will have to wait at least one more season to punch their first-ever ticket to the Big Dance.

College Of Charleston: 2017-18 Colonial Men's Basketball Champions

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- College of Charleston coach Earl Grant never doubted his team would cut down the nets at the Colonial Athletic Association championship and return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 19 years.

"We didn't realize we'd have that much adversity" on the way to the title, a smiling, relieved Grant said.

Joe Chealey had 32 points as the top-seeded Cougars rallied from 17 points down in the second half to win the CAA title with an 83-76 overtime win against Northeastern.

"Amazing grit by the players, amazing toughness, amazing belief," he marveled.

It certainly was an amazing comeback for a team that looked cooked early in the second half, down 42-25 with less than 18 minutes left and struggling to find any offensive rhythm. Yet an hour later, fans mobbed the Cougars at the North Charleston Coliseum in celebration.

"I was crying my eyes out so I didn't really get to see it," said Chealey, a fifth-year senior

Now, it's off to the NCAAs, where Charleston hasn't been since 1999 when then-coach John Kresse built the Cougars into a yearly mid-major threat with four trips to the Big Dance from 1994-99. The school's most successful run came in 1997 when it knocked off then-ACC power Maryland before falling to eventual champion Arizona.

Grant believes his team might have another such run in them.

"I think this team's got some destiny," he said. "March is just starting. The madness is just starting."

After rallying to tie, the Cougars caught fire in the extra period. They hit their first four shots, including a pair of 3-pointers by Marquise Pointer to take a 75-69 lead. Northeastern (23-10) could not come back.

The Cougars (26-7) appeared done early in the second half, trailing 42-25 after Vasa Pusica's 3-pointer with 17:27 to go. That's when Charleston ramped up the pressure -- it forced 14 turnovers the second half -- and tied it at 65-all on Chealey's layup with 10.1 seconds to go.

Charleston got the ball back with the chance to win in regulation, but Chealey's long 3-pointer hit off the front of the rim.

Jerrell Brantley gave the Cougars their first lead of the game, 67-65, in overtime before Pointer's first 3 gave Charleston the lead for good. Two minutes later, Pointer did it again as the large, loud crowd at the North Charleston Coliseum exploded in delight.

Northeastern's last chance disappeared when Pusica lost the ball out of bounds on a drive with 40 seconds to go.

"I can't imagine a tougher" loss, Northeastern coach Bill Coen said.

"I thought we had a winning effort," he continued. "We had our chances. We lost our composure a little bit at a couple of key moments. Obviously, we've got a lot of emotional players in the locker room."

Pusica had 30 points to lead the Huskies, who saw their nine-game winning streak ended. Shawn Occeus added 19 points.

Grant Riller scored 20 points for Charleston, 14 of those after halftime. Brantley finished with 18.

BIG PICTURE

Northeastern: The Huskies were poised and prepared in the opening half, but fell apart after the break. They turned the ball over 15 times in the second half and overtime to fuel Charleston's rally.

College of Charleston: The Cougars finally closed the deal after missing out a year ago in their first CAA Tournament finals in their home city. A team that appeared flustered and out of sync the first 22 minutes turned up the pace and ran past Northeastern.

GRANT'S HOME

Grant, in his fourth season, grew up a few miles away from the arena. He said the past few days he jogged about four miles to his old neighborhood, channeling the good vibes from his community for the Cougars to make a winning tournament run. "Last year, I jogged it and stopped at three miles," he said. "I thought, `We've got to go further,' so I went all the way in. It's good to feel the energy of this city."

RATTLED HUSKIES


Coen said the big, pro-Cougar crowd had an effect on the Huskies. "The building got loud. I tried to quiet it down with a couple of time outs," he said. "We knew that they were going to make a run, we were just hoping we could withstand it."

MURRAY MOMENT

Bill Murray, the comic actor and sometimes Charleston resident, was among the crowd rooting home the Cougars. He jumped and cheered with Charleston fans and had a big smile on his face when the Cougars took the title.

Murray is a frequent visitor to local sporting events and wore a Charleston RiverDogs cap. Murray is part owner in the Class A baseball team.

UP NEXT

Northeastern, which shared the regular-season crown with Charleston, will see if it will get an invite to a postseason tournament.

College of Charleston awaits its NCAA Tournament seeding.

Mount Union: 2017 NCAA Division III Football National Champions

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Mount Union Purple Raiders capped a memorable season by winning the NCAA Division III football national championship on Friday with a 12-0 victory over defending champion Mary Hardin-Baylor in the final Stagg Bowl game in Salem, Virginia.

The championship was the 13th for Mount Union in 20 Stagg Bowl championship appearances. So winning the final in Salem was special to the Raiders.

"It's really special," Mount Union coach Vince Kehres said after the game. "The people down here are so good to us. ... They're so friendly, so welcoming. This place does a great job of making it special for the teams here."

It was the second national title for Kehres, who took over for his father, Larry Kehres, five seasons ago.

Vince Kehres is now 70-4 since 2013 and led the Raiders to the national title game four times in his five seasons. No college coach has won more games since 2013 than the 70 by Kehres. He has been part of 12 of Mount Union's 13 national titles as either a player, assistant coach or head coach.

Making the season even more special, Larry Kehres was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last week in New York after leading Mount to 11 national championships. Kehres had a 332-24-3 overall record with 23 OAC championships and his .929 winning percentage is the best among coaches at all levels of college football.

And earlier this week four Raiders were named to the Associated Press Little All-America Division III team: senior center Cole Parrish, senior linebacker Charlie Dear, senior defensive lineman Elijah Berry and sophomore wide receiver Justin Hill.

The Raiders finish the season at 15-0 and now own a 99-16 record in NCAA Playoff games. They have been in the tournament a record 29 times, including 26 consecutive years.

The loss snapped a 29-game winning streak for Mary Hardin-Baylor and evened the series with Mount at 2-2.

Mount Union tallied eight sacks and two interceptions while limiting the Crusaders (14-1) to 144 yards, 75 of which came in the first quarter.

Alex Louthan booted a 31-yard field goal, quarterback D'Angelo Fulford found Hill for a 42-yard touchdown pass and Nick Brish added a late safety for the Purple Raiders on Friday. Brish was named the game's Most Outstanding Player.

"Really hats off all around on defense," Brish said. "We have outstanding defensive linemen, who made it easy on me because they were putting so much pressure on the guy, keeping them in the cage, keeping our landmarks and our pass rushes."

Among those offering congratulations to the Raiders was Iowa State coach Matt Campbell, the Massillon native and Mount Union alum who is getting praised for his work with the Cyclones after four successful seasons at Toledo.