Missouri Valley Conference Basketball Tournament Recap

Northern Iowa wins Valley title in OT with clutch free-throw shooting

 
Illinois State and Osiris Eldridge made the most spectacular plays in the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, but Northern Iowa's fundamentally sound guards performed the most important plays.
 
While the Redbirds wowed the St. Louis crowd, the poised Panthers took home the trophy and a ticket to the NCAA Tournament. UNI put on its dancing shoes after topping ISU in overtime, 60-57, to reach the field of 65 and give No. 1 seeds a two-year winning streak in the MVC tourney. One year after Drake thrashed Illinois State in the final, Northern Iowa left the Redbirds at the altar again. As bad as the 2008 title tilt proved to be for ISU, this loss will last a lot longer for coach Tim Jankovich's team. One only had to examine the final 90 seconds of an overtime period in which UNI's composure claimed a conference crown.
 
With 1:30 left in the extra stanza, the Redbirds--determined to succeed in the same building where last year's club failed--held a 57-54 lead thanks to 5 points from guard Champ Oguchi. When ISU's Lloyd Phillips missed a 3-point shot from the left wing, Redbird center Brandon Sampay snagged an offensive rebound roughly six feet from the basket. At the moment the ball landed in the big man's sizeable hands, Northern Iowa's defense had been displaced to the perimeter, due to the confident long-range shooting of ISU's backcourt. Sampay, however, didn't realize that he was all alone near the basket, with an easy dunk waiting to be taken. The post player kicked the ball to the perimeter, leading to a missed trey by Eldridge at the 1:07 mark of regulation. Given a reprieve, the Panthers calmly ran an effective halfcourt set to chip the Redbird advantage to 57-56 with 53 seconds left. 
 
The string of missed Illinois State opportunities--and mature responses from UNI--would only continue as this white-knuckler wound its way to the finish.
 
Up by only one, the Redbirds needed a bucket to feel good about their chances, so when Oguchi--newly confident after struggling for most of the afternoon--easily slashed to the rim with roughly 30 seconds on the clock, it appeared that the Illinois State story would find a happy ending in this year's MVC final. Just when a big contingent from Normal was about to celebrate an extraordinary accomplishment for its school, the Oguchi layup--pushed a little too much--bounced hard off the left rim at the 27-second mark. Once in control of the overtime, ISU suddenly put itself in position to lose, and the Panthers--who were rocked by the devastatingly quick hands of ISU's guards in the second half--regained their footing at the right time.

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Given a chance for a go-ahead score, the Panthers turned to the orchestrator of their offense, Kwadzo Ahelegbe. UNI's premier point guard, who dominated the first half with 13 points, was held to just 2 points in the second 20 minutes of regulation. Much as Oguchi blocked out a bad second half to respond in overtime, Ahelegbe did the same thing when his team's NCAA hopes hung in the balance. Ahelegbe broke down the Redbirds' defense and forced Sampay to commit a necessary foul just two feet from the goal with 16.7 seconds remaining. Despite having to shoot his first foul shots of the whole game with the season on the line, Ahelegbe knocked down both attempts to give the Panthers a 58-57 lead.
 
Illinois State turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, and when Ahelegbe's teammate, Ali Farokhmanesh--another overtime hero for Ben Jacobson's bunch--also hit his first free throws of the day just 10 seconds later, UNI had carved out a 60-57 lead with 6.8 seconds left. The Panthers defended flawlessly on the final possession of the game, and a long hoist by Eldridge fell short at the final buzzer. Under fire late in regulation and behind by as many as four points in overtime, Northern Iowa's attention to the basics of basketball--free throws, man-to-man defense, and time-score situations--carried the Valley's regular season co-champion to the tournament mountaintop, and a spot in an even bigger tournament on March 19 or 20.
 
The Panthers' soundness and steadiness claimed a hard-earned championship, but one can't leave this contest without mentioning the gallantry and greatness of Eldridge, by far the best single player of Arch Madness in 2009.
 
With his team flagging and crying out for scoring production, Eldridge--for several minutes midway through the second half--put on a performance for the ages. Whether it was an outrageous 30-footer from the top of the key, a no-look 25-footer from the right wing, or a fallaway, off-the-court 23-footer from the left corner, Eldridge--against quality UNI defense--hit ridiculous shots to give ISU a lead after a first half in which the Panthers dictated in every aspect of play. Eldridge also hounded the highly-heralded Ahelegbe into his miserable second half, and even contributed a jawdropping blocked shot on weakside help near the basket.

For a long while in the second half, it seemed as though one man was taking on a team, and while Eldridge's low-percentage shot selection caught up with him in the final minutes of the second half and also overtime, it's still a great credit to the "O" that the Redbirds came within a whisker of claiming this contest. Eldridge's performance--regardless of the outcome--deserves to be remembered as one of the very best displays in the history of the MVC Tournament. Unfortunately for him, Eldridge will remember the stomach-punch loss more than his hardwood heroics. That's a shame, but such is the power and poignancy of March Madness, and the event known as Arch Madness.
 
Great players earn admiration, but fundamentally sound teams win titles. America ought to remember Osiris Eldridge of Illinois State, but the nation will only see one team when the first round of the NCAAs begin, and that team resides in Cedar Falls. Northern Iowa didn't have the best man on the floor on a thrilling Sunday in St. Louis, but Ben Jacobson definitely possessed the best team in the Valley.
 

> Follw the entire 2009 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament here at MVC-fans.com

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer