ST. LOUIS – His Drake men’s basketball team had just polished off Indiana State in a pulsating Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game, but Darian DeVries wasn’t done coaching.
Freshman guard Colby Garland had some questions about the proper way to cut down the net at the Enterprise Center. He was concerned that he might inadvertently slice the entire thing down.
DeVries smiled. Just carve out a single strand, he advised Garland.
And with that, the celebration was on for a Bulldogs squad that had just secured its third NCAA Tournament berth in four years, with its second consecutive Valley title. But it was a much different team cutting the nets Sunday, starting with transfer guards Kyron Gibson and Atin Wright, but also including rookies like Garland and Kevin Overton.
“This is a surreal moment,” said Gibson, wearing his new Valley champions T-shirt and surrounded by new teammates who were barking in the background. “It’s hard to show emotions right now, but when we get back to Des Moines, we’re going to have a lot of fun and celebrate this.”
Seconds earlier, Gibson was gleefully taking a cell-phone photo of Garland and his parents, who had trekked from Arkansas to watch their son win another championship. He was on two state title-winning squads in high school. But those didn’t include the cutting down of nets, Garland explained. He let Gibson take the first snip Sunday, just so he could observe how it’s done.
“This has always been a dream of mine,” Garland said of playing in the NCAA Tournament. “I just wanted to come to a school that could get there, and anything can happen in March. It hasn’t hit me yet. But on the plane ride back home, I’ll be like, ‘Man, we’ve really got more basketball to play, on the big-time national stage.’ We need to get us a couple of wins.”
Drake lost to Miami in the opening round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. The brackets for this year’s version will be next Sunday, March 17.
But it’s a comfort for the Bulldogs to know that they’re in, with an automatic berth the reward for winning here Sunday. It will be the Sycamores sweating it out this week while they wait to learn if the Valley is deemed a two-bid league.
Drake (28-6), the second seed, was making its fourth consecutive appearance in the Valley title game, only the second school to ever do so (Tulsa, no longer a Valley member, was in six straight from 1982-87). The Bulldogs beat Bradley here a year ago to win this event for only the second time in school history (the first was in 2008).
Top-seeded Indiana State (28-6) last won this tournament in 2011, when it was coached by Iowa native Greg Lansing.
These were the two highest-scoring teams in the league, and Sunday’s showdown was as dazzling as anticipated.
The Bulldogs went on an early 11-0 run to open a lead that they held for 34 minutes. Drake made its first seven 3-point shots and built a 45-32 halftime edge.
But Garland said DeVries kept telling his players during timeouts: “This (Indiana State) team is capable of going on a 15-0 run in like 2 minutes.”
Sure enough, a 20-3 Sycamores burst propelled them into a 73-72 lead entering the game’s final 4 minutes. Guard Isaiah Swope was the catalyst, tallying all of his 19 points in the second half.
Drake’s season was suddenly on the brink. But the Bulldogs didn’t blink.
Center Darnell Brodie, the old man of the team at age 25, made a pair of free throws. League MVP Tucker DeVries ventured into the lane for a tough jump shot en route to a game-high 27 points. Conor Enright fought through a screen to draw a foul on the defensive end of the court, then calmly planted a 3-pointer in front of his bench to push Drake ahead 79-76. Brodie muscled inside for a layup, then sank two more free throws to ice the victory.
Afterward, Brodie cradled the trophy for a long time, relinquishing it for brief moments so that his teammates could touch it.
“I do whatever it takes to win,” Brodie said after scoring 17 points with eight rebounds.
Darian DeVries said it was Brodie’s final two free throws that might have been the biggest points of the game.
“He’s pretty confident. He’s been there before,” DeVries said of Brodie.
“He’s been such a force for us all through the years.”
In the final seconds, when it became apparent that Drake was going to win, Wright kneeled down and slapped the court with both hands, beaming at his new teammates. He transferred from California State-Northridge for this moment. He scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half Sunday.
“It just felt good, just to know that we were actually done with the conference and the tournament. And we knew coming into this tournament that we were going to win,” Wright said.
“We’re not done. We’re definitely not done. I’m just so excited that we’ll get to play in the NCAA Tournament.”
Gibson said Drake was able to keep its composure late because of all the tight games it has played this season. That includes a triple-overtime thriller at Illinois-Chicago two weeks ago that was the beginning of what is now a five-game winning streak.
“We felt like the tougher team was going to win this match, because we’re both very skilled teams,” Gibson said.
“We’re built for this moment, and just poised down the stretch. We were ready.”
They have the trophy, and two perfectly cut nets, to show for it.
First appeared on www.desmoinesregister.com