by BYUH Sports Information
The Brigham Young University Hawaii men’s basketball team had their Cinderella run through the NCAA II Tournament strike midnight in the middle of the afternoon today as they Seasiders came up just three points short in the national title game, losing to second-ranked Bellarmine 71-68 on national television. The Seasiders, who finish the year 22-9, made a magical run through the tournament as a seventh seed in the West Regional but fell short when their shooting touch failed in the second half.
The Seasiders, who had shot over 60 percent from the field in victories over Bloomfield and West Liberty in their previous games at the Elite Eight, shot just 25 percent (7-25) from the field in the second half today and just 38.1 percent (24-63) for the game.
Despite their shooting woes, the Seasiders battled back from a 63-55 deficit with 7:33 to play in the game. A three-pointer by sophomore Junior Ale closed the gap to just a single point, 66-65 with 2:37 remaining. A jumper by Bellarmine’s Chris Dowe with 59 seconds to go increased the lead to three and a Braydon Hobbs free throw with 23 seconds left made it a 69-65 game. However, senior Heath Gameren drilled a three-pointer for his only points of the game to cut the lead to 69-68 with 11 seconds on the clock. Unfortunately for the Seasiders, those were the last points they scored. Another Bellarmine free throw with nine seconds left made it a two-point game, but Jet Chang was unable to get a jumper to go down and Bellarmine made another late free throw for the final margin.
Chang, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament and to the All-Tournament Team, scored 35 points to keep BYU-Hawaii within striking distance throughout the game. Chang went 12-20 from the field, 4-5 from three-point range, and 7-8 from the free throw line as well as grabbing six rebounds in the game. Ale came off the bench to score 17 points and went 6-12 from the field and 4-7 from long range. Jake Dastrup hit three three-pointers for nine points and Marques Whippy led the team on the boards with eight rebounds. Whippy and Gameren each handed out four assists and Whippy blocked two shots.
“We kept fighting and we had our opportunities to win at the end,” BYU-Hawaii Head Coach Ken Wagner said. “It seemed like every time we had an open three-pointer or layup, we would turn it over or miss the shot. I am proud of our effort but unfortunately we didn’t capitalize on our chances.”
Chang became the first player from a losing team to be named the Most Outstanding Player since Kentucky Wesleyan’s Antonio Garcia in 1998. Chang averaged 33.3 points over the three games that began with a 22-point performance on March 23 during a 96-89 victory over Bloomfield (NJ). It continued with a 43-point explosion vs. West Liberty (WV) in a 110-101 semifinal triumph on March 24. Chang’s shooting was tremendous. From the floor he hit 35 of 53 field goal attempts for a robust 66.0% (35 for 53) accuracy rate. He was even more deadly from beyond the arc, making 12 of 17 three-point jumpers (70.6%) and averaging 4.0 three-pointers made per game. Equally impressive was his shooting from the free throw line where he hit 18 of 21 (85.7%). He averaged 4.7 rebounds per game while dealing out 3.0 assists per contest. He averaged 1.0 steals per game and a 1.0 assist/turnover ratio, all while averaging 34.3 minutes played per game. Chang finishes the season as the leading scorer in the PacWest after averaging 21.2 points per game.
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