DANVILLE, Ill. — The dream is alive for one more night.
To the final night of the season.
Southwestern Community College's men’s basketball team is 40 minutes away from the first national championship in any sport in school history.
Behind a gritty and gutty defensive effort, the top-seeded and top-ranked Spartans advanced with a 70-62 win win over fifth-seeded Richard Bland, Virginia, Friday in the NJCAA Division II national semifinal at the Mary Miller Center on the campus of Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois.
Southwestern, 35-1, faces Louisburg, North Carolina. The Hurricanes, from Louisburg, North Carolina just northeast of Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, advanced with an 86-73 win over second-seeded and second-ranked South Suburban, Illinois, in the other semifinal.
Tip off for the national championship game is set for 7:30 p.m. central time from Danville.
The Spartans’ heart showed with an impressive, gritty effort over 40 minutes in a hot and steamy gym in eastern Illinois.
“We have a really good basketball team,” said Southwestern coach Todd Lorensen. “We’ve got a lot of resilient guys that are committed to each other, guys that are unselfish, guys that worry more about winning than they do personal stats, personal glory.”
Those attributes have Southwestern 40 minutes away from the program’s first national championship in any sport.
“When you have that on top of having really good guys, it helps you win games when you shoot 4-for-21 from the arc and you’re a 40-percent three-point shooting team,” Lorensen said.
Southwestern’s defense dominated throughout the 40 minute contest. Lorensen’s team held Richard Bland to 37 percent shooting, 19-of-51, including 6-of-19 from three-point range.
“Defense was picked us up,” said Brodric Thomas.
The Spartans needed every bit of defense they had.
Lorensen noted the Spartans’ defense was as crisp as it has been all season.
“It has to be right up there,” Lorensen said. “We were stingy defensively.”
Led by strong play in the back court from Jordan Johnson, Calvin Chambers, Alijah Thomas and company, Southwestern kept the Richard Bland offense all out of sorts.
“Those guys all really good on-ball defenders,” Lorensen said. “They do a great job showing their hands so they don’t get the cheap fouls. Those guys switched off handoffs, ball screens. It makes it really tough for guards to get the corner turned, and when they do get in the paint, we just really emphasize contest to the best of our ability and if a guy makes a shot, we tip our cap and go the other way rather than bail out with a foul or not contesting because they got beat.”
“Just stay with the process and see what happens on that possession.”
The Governors' offense was at a loss.
“Give them credit, but we lost our minds,” said Richard Bland coach Chuck Moore. “In a lot of ways we were trying to over-emphasized looking to throw the ball inside, instead of reverse the ball, cut through, screen away a little more, get a little more action.
“But you can’t score when you turn the ball over 27 times.”
Richard Bland’s defense was equally effective in slowing Southwestern down. The Spartans did shoot 40 percent overall, 20-of-49, but were a season’s worst 4-of-21 from three-point range.
The Spartans fell behind 7-2 early, but gradually worked their way ahead, and led 28-26 at halftime.
Southwestern led even though it had one of its poorest offensive halves of the season, going 10-of-25 overall and only 2-of-11 from downtown.
The Spartans headed to the locker room knowing they were in good shape.
“When we found a way to be up 28-26 at half knowing I felt we played pretty poorly offensively, I felt like we were in a really good spot,” Lorensen said.
The message Lorensen and assistant Scott Davis told the team at halftime was simple.
Southwestern took it to heart and showed it over the next 20 minutes.
“We talked about that with our group, re-emphasized if we pass the ball and cut hard, then be ready to dribble late in the shot clock, we can get quality shots,” Lorensen said. “We got a lot better shots in the second half.”
Southwestern’s offense picked it up enough in the second half. Behind another strong offensive performance from Bolingbrook, Illinois, native Brodric Thomas, the Spartans jumped out to a 60-45 lead with a little over three minutes to go.
Thomas finished with a game-high 19 points, along with eight rebounds, before fouling out with just over a minute to go.
Thomas’ 19 points came on 6-of-10 shooting overall, 3-of-6 from three-point range and 4-of-4 at the free throw line.
Those boards were equally as important in Lorensen’s mind.
“He’s always pretty efficient guy, but I’m looking at those eight rebounds," Lorensen said. "They were more important than 19 points.”
Richard Bland’s long, lanky, athletic players tightened their grip on the defensive end late, helping the Governors close within six, 65-59 with 59 seconds to go.
Southwestern held on. Two Jordan Johnson free throws with 44 seconds to go, one from Jamil Maddred and two more from Johnson with less than 10 seconds to go was enough for the Spartans to hold on.
Southwestern was 26-of-42 at the line. Johnson was 7-of-11, and finished with 15 points. Maddred was 6-of-10, and finished with 10 points, along with five rebounds.
Johnson had 15 points and four assists. Lavon Hightower had 11 points off the bench. Maddred had 10 points and five rebounds. Calvin Chambers had five assists.
Richard Bland did outrebound Southwestern 36-33, but keeping the margin close was critical to the Spartans’ win.
“I didn’t feel we needed to win the rebounding war, we just couldn’t get absolutely dominated on them,” Lorensen said. “Even though they had second and third chances multiple times, it wasn’t like a 10-12 rebound discrepancy. If that’s the case, I don’t think we win the game.
“We got just enough stops and rebounds to keep us where we needed to be.”
Lorensen also credited strong work off the bench from Antonio Williams and Nate Lee, particularly in the first half.
Lee, the seldom used freshman, did not score, but provided four rebounds and grabbed a steal.
“You want to talk about anybody stepping up, talk about Nate Lee,” Lorensen said. “We needed his size and athleticism in the first half. He was our MVP. He got defensive rebounds, got a steal, got out in transition, made nice plays.”
“Nate Lee was a huge factor for us.”
Now the Spartans are 40 minutes away from the first national title in any sport in school history.
“I’m so excited for our guys,” Lorensen said. “They’ve worked really hard for this. They’ve bought into the system.”
“They’ve earned this opportunity.”