National Champions: Men's basketball goes all the way
Andrei Berman and Johann Qua Hiansen
Issue date: 3/24/08 Section: News
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This allowed the Bears to bring home the University's first-ever national championship in a men's sport.
After trailing top-ranked Hope College 33-32 at the end of the first half in Friday night's national semifinal, Wash. U. put together a string of three consecutive brilliant halves of basketball, culminating in an emphatic 90-68 victory over defending national champion Amherst College to give the gritty Bears the 2007-2008 national title.
"It's the best feeling in the world," said freshman Caleb Knepper. "I can't describe it."
The second-half effort against Hope and the brilliant performance against Amherst less than 24 hours later will forever go down in the lore of Washington University athletics. The team, which many pollsters had written off four months ago when All-American point guard Sean Wallis was lost for the season with a broken leg, ended the season in style, donning championship hats and T-shirts and ceremonially cutting down nets on the sport's grandest stage as hundreds of students, families and supporters looked on, cheering wildly.
Wash. U. had shown flashes of brilliance all season, but nothing compared to what they pulled off this weekend. In the second frame against Hope, Wash. U. torched the Flying Dutchmen for an almost surreal 57 points. With National Player of the Year and Final Four MVP Troy Ruths dominating the paint, and sophomore Aaron Thompson getting to the basket with ease, Hope was forced to foul.
Three Hope starters fouled out, and Wash. U. capitalized. The squad's performance from the line was equally impressive.
The Red and Green hit 18 of 20 from the free throw line in the second half, leaving no doubt about the final margin of victory and moving onto the championship game with much-needed confidence against an imposing Amherst club, which boasted four trips to Salem over the past five seasons.
Ruths finished the contest with an MVP-like state line of 30 points on 11-15 shooting and eight of nine from the line. Thompson tallied all 15 of his points in the second half, including a memorable stretch of 11 straight at the midway point.
"I got the first one in, and after that, it kind of just steamrolled," said Thompson.
Junior Tyler Nading tallied 15 points on five of seven shooting despite battling foul trouble all afternoon and being limited to 21 minutes of action. Senior Danny O'Boyle played spectacularly off the bench for the Bears, finishing with 12 points, including two crucial three-pointers.
"Throughout this whole tournament run, we had a lot of key players step up, whether it's [Thompson], Danny or Tyler or me," said Ruths.
Wash. U. 90, Amherst 68
Wash. U. dominated the Amherst Lord Jeffs from the opening tip to the final buzzer, never trailing the defending champions.
The Bears played with a poise and passion emblematic of champions and, by the time the Salem Civic Center scoreboard clock struck zero, the team had left no doubt about which team was number one.
Amherst coach David Hixon neglected to double-team Ruths in the early going, and Wash. U.'s senior captain and second all-time leading scorer took full advantage.
"Throughout the whole season, I saw a lot double-teams and triple-teams, and these last two games, they decided to play me straight up, and that's what I was praying for," said Ruths.
The 6-foot-6-inch center consistently disrupted the Lord Jeffs' interior game.
Trailing 45-32 at halftime, Amherst chipped away at the Wash. U. lead to open the second half. The Jeffs narrowed the deficit to six on a pair of occasions, but the Bears' uncanny 70 percent shooting in the second half proved much too difficult to overcome.
Each time Amherst put together a string of baskets, Ruths and the Bears came right back to slam the proverbial door. Wash. U. hit clutch basket after clutch basket, many of which came as the shot clock wound down.
Ruths finished with 33 points, 15 of which came from the foul line on just 17 attempts. Thompson ended the night with 19 and joined Ruths on the all-tournament team.
Nading, whose defensive efforts all weekend helped limit the opposition's offensive potency, wound up with 13 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. O'Boyle again came up big off the bench, scoring eight points, including a pair of crucial threes.
Sophomore point guard Ross Kelley did a tremendous job limiting defensively on Amherst's point guard and 2006-2007 National Player of the Year Andrew Olson. Olson was held to 16 points on the afternoon while committing a highly uncharacteristic eight turnovers. "Ross dogged him the whole game and made him frustrated," said Thompson.
Kelley finished with five assists and committed just two turnovers against the athletic Lord Jeffs' defense. The Wash. U. faithful will not soon forget his defense on Olson.
Nor will they forget the Final Four experience more generally. The three busloads of Wash. U. students who traveled more than 10 hours in each direction were commended by the players and national commentators alike for the intensity and spirit they brought to Virginia's self-proclaimed "Championship City."
The celebration began as soon as sophomore Michael Young tossed the ball into the air as time ran out. The fans were held back as a ton of confetti showered the court and the team, but the players showed their appreciation, leaping into the crowd as soon as possible to give hugs and thanks to their devoted supporters.
"We have the best fans in the country," said Kelley.
The seniors savored their final win.
"There's no better way to go out," said senior Moss Schermerhorn. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"I couldn't possible have asked for anything more," said classmate O'Boyle. "I'm still riding the high of the championship."
Head Coach Mark Edwards shared the victory with the entire community.
"Everybody joined in together to make this a successful weekend," said Edwards. "Enjoy it, revel in it and spread it from here."
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