FINDLAY, Ohio – No. 3 seeded Walsh stamped its seal on the postseason with another accomplishment after capturing the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championship tournament title on Saturday.
The Cavaliers successfully defended their 2019 tournament trophy, marking back-to-back championship runs after taking down No. 8 seed Kentucky Wesleyan, 69-48.
Walsh’s perfect postseason appearance under head coach Jeff Young included quarterfinal advancement vs. No. 6 Ohio Dominican and a semifinal victory over No. 2 Findlay.
Walsh earned the conference automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional in the field of 64. After facing Bellarmine in the opening round last year, the Cavaliers will learn of their placement in Sunday’s selection show starting at 10:30 p.m. ET.
For Kentucky Wesleyan, the tank was just running on empty after the Panthers gave it their all in Friday’s semifinal win over Malone.
The Panthers still had one of the most impressive tournament runs in conference history, taking down the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds on their way to becoming a conference championship finalist.
Making things more complicated was top scorer and first team all-conference guard Adam Goetz battling illness. Goetz was coming off a 27-point outing in the semifinals and played over 40 minutes to help his team advance.
Walsh led by as many as 27 and ran out to a 9-0 start in the first four minutes of regulation. Junior all-conference guard Darryl Straughter was percolating – with 12 points in the first half alone, he nailed a trio of triples and was in rhythm from the opening whistle.
One of Straughter’s threes gave Walsh an 18-7 lead midway through the first half. He also had a steal and immediate basket while doing work on the defensive end of the floor.
After opening the scoring with a four-point play, Mark Mokros was the catalyst for his team’s fast start in the championship game. Mokros ripped the cords from deep for the game’s first basket and would finish with 13 points. JT Shumate added a 10 point, 10-rebound double-double.
The Cavaliers were strong defensively, both on the perimeter closing out on shooters like Goetz, and on the interior. WU’s Mark Kostelac and KWC’s Sasha Sukhanov were patrolling the paint and posted each other up multiple times for intriguing one-on-one showdown.
The length of guys like Caleb Canter and JT Shumate were also problematic on dribble drives. Just like what Walsh did to Findlay on Friday, Walsh was able to execute its game plan to near perfection.
The Panthers were relentless trying to make up serious ground after coming back to beat Malone less than 24 hours ago elapsed. KWC struggled with a 35.2 field goal percentage while Walsh was almost 53 percent for the game.