Winona State 87, Augusta State 76

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Winona State completed its run to a second national championship in three years in stylish fashion by rallying from a 16-point, 53-37, first half deficit en route to an 87-76 victory against Augusta State this afternoon at the MassMutual Center. The Warrior’s 17-point shortfall marks the second largest comeback in an NCAA Division II Championship Game.

Winona State got to today by beating a pair of undefeated teams earlier in the tournament with a 67-54 quarterfinal victory against Grand Valley State on Wednesday and an 86-75 semifinal win versus Bentley on Thursday.

The Warriors (38-1) forced the Jaguars into nine turnovers, which yielded 18 points throughout the second half, and limited them to 14 points throughout the opening 10 minutes of the second stanza; after giving up 44 first half points. On the other end, they shot 41.2 percent (7-for-17) from the arc and 50.0 percent (20-for-40) overall during that span.

“I guess in the first half, we caught ourselves getting behind. It was one thing to be behind two or four points, but when it started to get to double digits, our defense wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do. We then wanted to diminish the deficit in the last few minutes, which were able to do,” said Winona State head coach Mike Leaf. “In the locker room, we said that we’re only down 12 and that it wasn’t that much. We just had to make sure that we did it one possession at a time.”

Senior guard and Tournament Most Outstanding Player Jonte Flowers scored 25 of his 30 points after halftime to lead the Warriors. In the process, he became only the ninth player to score 30 or more points in the NCAA Division II Title Game.

Senior forward John Smith contributed 18 points and five rebounds, senior guard Quincy Henderson finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists; and junior guard Travis Whipple added 13 points for Winona State.

Senior forward AJ Bowman led Augusta State (27-7) with 26 points on 12-for-15 shooting from the floor, while sophomore forward Ben Madgen and junior center Garret Siler tossed in 20 points each to lead Augusta State (26-7). Madgen also pulled down seven boards and handed out five assists.

Henderson foreshadowed the Winona State comeback by knocking down a 3-pointer from the left wing with four seconds remaining that cut the Warriors deficit to 12 points, 44-32, at intermission.

Augusta State boosted its advantage back to 16, 53-37, throughout the opening four minutes of the second half, but then Winona State took off on a 9-2 spurt that brought them to within single digits, 55-46, with 14:43 remaining after Smith, who had 15 treys all season, knocked down one of his four 3-pointers on the afternoon.

Five minutes later, Flower drained a jumper from the left elbow that tied it up, 58-58. The lead swayed both ways during the five minutes, before freshman guard Ben Fischer finished a pair of layups to put the Warriors ahead for good, 69-65, with 5:13 remaining.

After junior guard Steve Smith drained a trey to make it a one point, 69-68, ballgame; Flowers knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers that afforded the Warriors a seven point, 75-68, advantage with 3:58 left. A 3-pointer by Henderson boosted the lead to 10, 80-70, and in the process pretty much removed all doubt about the eventual outcome. They then sealed the victory by converting five of their eight free throws from that point on.

“I told our guys in the locker room that if this is the worst thing they go through in their life, then they’ll have a good life. We accomplished a lot of things this year and just came up short to a great and expericened Winona State team. I think their experience helped a lot,” said Augusta State head coach Dip Metress.

The first half was quite a different story as Augusta State shot 67.9 percent (19-for-28) from the floor, and outscored Winona State 28-4 in the paint. The Jaguars limited the Warriors to four points throughout a five minute span in the latter stages that allowed them to transform a two point, 24-22, cushion into a l0 point, 36-26, lead with 3:34 to go until the break.


Elite Eight All-Tournament Team
Jonte Flowers, Winona State (Most Outstanding Player)
AJ Bowman, Augustus State
John Smith, Winona State
Garret Siler, Augusta State
Lew Finnegan, Bentley