UC Davis brings home a national championship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It wasn't supposed to happen this way.

Maybe they could win one game. But then they would face reality, that they didn't belong with the rest of the big boys at the big dance, and they would return to California, eating humble pie all the way home.

That's how many viewed the UC Davis Aggies at the NCAA Division II Elite Eight national basketball championship. Too bad they forgot to ask the Davis players, who believed they could beat anybody.

Besides, they hate humble pie.

Saturday, the Aggies completed the most successful season in school history, winning the title with an 83-77 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan at the Commonwealth Convention Center.

Jason Cox's three-pointer gave Davis a 79-77 lead with 37 seconds left, and four consecutive free throws by Dante Ross sealed the win.

The national championship is a most improbable one for the Aggies, who finished 31-2. Many of their opponents took one look at them and shrugged.

"The size of our team, it didn't intimidate anybody," said Davis coach Bob Williams, whose tallest player is 6-foot-8. "I think just about everybody thought they were better than us before they played us. At any one time, there were probably five guys out there who thought they could beat us in a pickup game. We are not very imposing.

"This win is for the little guy. We were not picked to win here. A lot of people thought we wouldn't win our first game. But the performance these guys put on the floor, the way they came up big in the crunch, it's kind of the Cinderella-slipper-on-the-foot-type of thing."

To the favored Panthers, seeking a seventh national title, the Aggies may not have been imposing. But they were impressive.

"They may not have the most individual talent, but as far as a team, they compete and play very well," said Kentucky Wesleyan coach Ray Harper. "They are the best team we faced all year, and they made the big shots when they counted."

Besides the Panthers, the Aggies had to deal with an estimated 2,500 Kentucky Wesleyan fans out of the crowd of 3,420.

"That is why it was so critical to get off to a good start, to quiet their fans and to show Kentucky Wesleyan we could play with them," said Davis' Chris Vlasic.

Davis took an 8-3 lead, lost it at 16-15 at the 11:57 mark and regained it at 17-16. They held the lead throughout the half and went ahead by 11, 37-26, before settling for a 43-35 halftime lead.

"We talked about the start of the game, about how little respect would probably be given us and how their crowd would be in it," Williams said. "We compared it to an alley fight. We told the team they were the little guy walking into an alley with a bunch of big guys. If the big guys throw the first punch, you are in trouble.

"We told them when they walked out on the court to throw the first punch, to be the aggressor. We had lulls in the game, but I think we stayed pretty aggressive most of the time."

The lulls happened throughout the second half, with the Panthers (30-3) making run after run. The first surge cut the lead to 53-49 with 12 minutes left. But Jonathan Surface, a 6-8 post player who can shoot from the outside, hit two straight three-pointers to put the Aggies back up by 10.

Another run cut the lead to 63-60 with 8:30 left before J.C. Timmons and Travon Dugar hit baskets to make it 67-60.

Then another charge gave Kentucky Wesleyan a 70-67 lead with five minutes left. But the 6-6 Cox, another Davis big man who likes to shoot from the outside, sank a three-pointer to tie the game at 70-70 with 3:40 to go.

The lead went back and forth from there, with the Panthers moving ahead 76-74 with 2:16 left. But Cox made five points in the next 90 seconds, the last three on his key shot from outside the arc.

"Our big guys stepping out and hitting those threes, that was the difference," Williams said. "Any one of those guys know if they feel it, they are allowed to shoot. If you have been watching Cox in this tournament, he's been feeling it. For him to step up and knock down those shots, especially the three-pointer, it didn't surprise me."

Cox, who had 18 points Saturday after a 27-point game in the semifinals, saw things differently.

"It surprised the hell out of me. I didn't know what I was really thinking when I took that three-point shot," Cox said. "If I had been thinking, I probably wouldn't have shot it."

The Panthers then had a great opportunity to tie when Pat Critchelow drove past Dante Ross and had a wide-open lane to the basket. But he lost the ball out of bounds with 26 seconds left.

"I thought I was going to have an easy layup, but I just got overexcited and just lost the ball," Critchelow said.

On the inbound play, Ross was fouled and made both free throws for an 81-77 lead. Cox then blocked a shot under the basket, and Ross was fouled as he grabbed the loose ball. Ross again sank both free throws with 13.5 seconds left.