SALEM, Va. (AP) – Tim Folan didn’t let his subpar play for most of the NCAA’s Division III national championship weekend shake his confidence. And when Williams College needed him most, he made the Ephs champions.
Folan made two free throws with 2.6 seconds to play Saturday, capping a big comeback and giving Williams a 67-65 victory against Gustavus Adolphus and its first national championship in 102 years of basketball.
“I wouldn’t have drawn it up this way,” said Folan, whose heroics started with a 3-pointer that gave the Ephs their first lead with 47 seconds left, and ended with a steal on the game’s concluding play.
“The shots just kind of fell in my lap,” Folan said after his second consecutive 4-for-10 shooting day, one in which all the makes seemed to come late.
After beating Wooster 74-72 in overtime on a buzzer-beating putback by Drew Demuth in the semifinals, the Ephs again trailed almost all game.
“I think we probably led for about eight seconds the entire weekend,” said Dave Paulsen, the third-year coach of his Massachusetts alma mater.
“We shot 37 percent. We let them shoot 55 percent, and we’re the national champions. You figure that out,” he added, shaking his head. “It’s the thrill of a lifetime.”
The Ephs (31-1) allowed only two points over the final 3:16, a basket by Derek Nelson that gave the Golden Gusties a 65-64 lead with 33 seconds left. Then Folan rebounded a missed free throw by teammate Ben Coffin with the score tied, was fouled trying to drive and swished both free throws.
“I wasn’t nervous at all,” he said, before Paulsen interrupted:
“You need to have a conscience to be nervous,” the coach said.
The Golden Gusties (26-7) blew a 14-point lead, rebuilt their lead to 59-51 and then stopped scoring, allowing the Ephs one last comeback.
The end left Gusties coach Mark Harmon and his team wondering “what if?”
“I think we’ll do that for a long time,” he said. “Any game that’s a one-possession game you can look back and look at a lot of things that could have been different. That’s what makes it hurt so much.”
Tim Brown was called for the last foul, when Folan said he was trying to split two defenders and drive for a layup, and Brown was surprised.
“With that little time left and the score tied, it seems like they’d let you play a little bit,” Brown said. “But it went the other way.”
During the drought, Chris TeBrake missed two free throws with the Gusties ahead 63-61, just before Folan’s third 3-pointer of the day.
Folan led the Ephs with 15 points and Coffin had 11, although three times he managed to make only one of two free throws in the final 2:49.
Coffin, limited by foul trouble after scoring 33 against Wooster, said winning hadn’t registered yet, but he looked forward to when it does.
“It could be a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said.
Brown led the Gusties with 19 points. Doug Espenson added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and TeBrake and Nelson scored 11 points each.
The Golden Gusties used 7-for-9 shooting to start the second half and a 9-2 run to take a 45-35 lead with 12:48 remaining. The Ephs immediately answered, scoring 11 of the next 15 points to get within 49-46.
Tucker Kaine had a 3-pointer in the run, and when he made another from the top of the key a few minutes later, it pulled the Ephs even at 51.
This time, the Gusties responded, getting two free throws from David Newell, one from Eric Nelson and a rebound and layup from Espenson when Nelson’s second free throw missed.
Derek Nelson then made one free throw for the Gusties, again missing the second, and again Espenson got the rebound, leading to TeBrake’s running bank shot from the left side that pushed the lead to 59-51.
The Gusties’ lead was still eight when they stopped scoring.
Coffin made a free throw, Folan made two and then stole the ball and drove for a layup, pulling the Massachusetts school within three points.
Then Folan made his last two big plays to clinch the title, and the Ephs celebrated in a pile of bodies as fireworks exploded at the roof of the Salem Civic Center, sending confetti fluttering to the floor.
Gustavus Adolphus led 30-27 at halftime, and could have led by more, but turned the ball over on its last five possessions of the half, allowing Williams a 9-0 run over the last four minutes. The Ephs, without foul-plagued scoring leader Coffin for 12 minutes, had two turnovers.
AP-ES-03-22-03 2014EST
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