NORTH CANTON, OH: Alumni Arena was rocking on Sunday night for the NCAA DII Midwest Regional Semifinals. There were two big milestones on the line for the Maroon and Gold as they were looking to advance to the Sweet 16 and earn Head Coach,
Jeff Young, his 500th career victory. Both milestone were met.
In a crazy Round 1 finish, #5 Northern Michigan defeated #4 Rockhurst to earn the right to play the #1 seeded Cavaliers in the semifinals. The Wildcats were a familiar opponent to Walsh, back in the GLIAC days but Sunday night was the first meeting between the two programs in almost 10 years. Coming in, the Cavs were 4-1 vs Northern.
Through the first three minutes of the game, it was a three point contest. NMU connected on two 3's while
Kobe Mitchell returned the favor. Mitchell started the game with the hot hand making three 3's in the first four minutes. The hot shooting propelled the Cavs as they built an 8 point lead.
Jadi Cunningham,
Kaleb Schaffer, and
Kyle Monterrubio helped push the lead to 12 with 6:15 left in the opening half. Despite a 5-0 run by the Wildcats, Walsh took a 10 point lead to the halftime break. The Cavs shot 50% in the first half.
Walsh continued their confident play in the second half, keeping the Wildcats at a distance, only allowing them to get as close as 6 points; at the 18:20 and 3:54 mark. In between, the Cavs energized the arena with clutch buckets and overwhelming defense. In the last 2:30, the Cavs outscored NMU, 11-1.
Jeff Young and company will look to win the Regional and get win number 501 on Tuesday night at 7pm. The Men will face #3 Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech defeated Grand Valley, 69-67, to advance.
LOCATION: Alumni Arena
SCORE: #1 WU 86 - #5 NMU 68
RECORDS: #1 WU 29-3 (17-3), #4 NMU 28-7 (16-4)
FOR THE CAVS
