AUBURN – Will Dudley hadn’t seen the hot-shooting team he was accustomed to this week. So as Saturday’s consolation game went on and on and on, the coach of World Harvest Bible College held out hope that, at some point, his Warriors might find the shooting touch again.

He had to wait until the third overtime. With four straight 3-pointers raining down, the Warriors finally ended a back-and-forth battle with Central Maine Community College. World Harvest’s burst to start the third overtime built a lead the Mustangs couldn’t answer as the Warriors won 113-97 to take the third-place game in the USCAA Division II National Championships.

“We’d been really cold all week,” said Dudley. “I think we shot the ball about 30 percent all week. In that second game, if we’d shot a little better, we might be playing in the (championship game). So we knew it was only a matter of time before the guys got hot. These guys are a pretty good shooting team.”

The barrage of outside shots coincided with four straight Mustang turnovers to start the third overtime. That was after CMCC had squandered the chance to win the game in the second overtime. The Mustangs had a four-point lead twice but missed five-of-six free throws, including a pair from Chris Havens with two seconds left.

“I think more than anything we just simply ran out of gas,” said CMCC coach Dave Gonyea. “They hit some big shots in the second overtime. I’m not sure how much better we’re going to play. We played about as good as we’re going to play.”

Steve Maw had tied the game 94-94 in the second overtime with a 3-pointer from the corner with 21 seconds left. He carried that momentum over into the third overtime. After Josh Hicks started things off and put the Warriors up 97-94, Maw hit back-to-back 3s. Then Chad Sleeper drilled one and a basket by Carlos Henderson made it a 14-0 run.

“I think that first one he hit really gave him some confidence,” Dudley said of Maw, who played sparingly in regulation. “So he had that opportunity to hit one or two more and that’s when we were able to open the game up.”

Henderson finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds for World Harvest, of Columbus, Ohio. R.J. Mathews had 22 while Hicks, Maw and Chris Thompson all hit double figures.

CMCC got 24 from Chris Brackett, who reached the 1,000-point plateau with a score in the first overtime. Havens had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Josh Berard and Patrick Dempsey chipped in with 18 and 12 points, respectively.

“We had three good milestones (in the tournament),” said Gonyea. “Josh got his 1,000th point. Patrick Dempsey got his 1,000th assist and Chris Brackett got his 1,000th point.”

CMCC trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half but erased that with 11 straight points during an 18-3 run. The Mustangs took the lead for the first time with 1:53 left in regulation when Brackett scored on a backdoor pass. The lead switched hands with a rebound by Thompson and another Brackett hoop with 28 seconds left. A free throw by Henderson tied it with four seconds left.

In the first overtime, Havens hit a pair of free throws with 1:42 left to put CMCC ahead, 83-81. Henderson scored on a baseline move and a pull-up jumper by Thompson put the Warriors ahead with 35 seconds left. The Mustangs tied it with 12 seconds remaining when Havens put back a Brackett miss.

In the second overtime, baskets by Berard and Dempsey put CMCC up 91-87 with 2:17 left. After a Mathews score, Brackett made it 93-89 with 1:30 to play, but the Mustangs could not hold it. World Havest got a rebound from Sleeper. After Dempsey hit just one of two free throws, Maw hit his 3-pointer from the corner. Havens was fouled by Henderson with three seconds left but missed both free throws.

CMCC went nearly three minutes of the final overtime without scoring and didn’t hit a field goal until the final seconds.

kmills@sunjournal.com

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