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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It wasn't immediately known if Stevie Clark has any Irish blood in him, but – much to the chagrin of the Wayland Baptist Pioneers – on this St. Patrick's Day he definitely had luck on his side.
Clark pumped in 34 points to lead the third-ranked LSU-Shreveport Pilots to a 71-66 victory over Wayland on Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championships.
"We were really close," Wayland coach Ty Harrelson said. "They're very talented, and so are we. We played very well as a team and had a chance to win it. We just didn't get the job quite done."
Playing in just their second-ever national quarterfinal, the Pioneers (25-10) rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit and took a 60-59 lead – their first since being up 13-11 – on a 3-pointer by Josh Throns with 2:40 left. But Clark scored the next seven points for the Pilots (30-4), including a long 3-pointer that Harrelson said might have been the difference in the game.
"I thought we had them, especially if we could have gotten a stop there. But (Clark) comes down and hits a really, really deep 3. He was about one dribble past half-court. We weren't expecting him to shoot.
"It's just one of those things."
Wayland got buckets by Throns and J.J. Culver to tie it at 64 with 1:39 left, but a pair of missed 3s by Throns – the last with 14 seconds left – led to LSU-Shreveport hitting 3-of-4 free throws that made it a 5-point game with 13 ticks to go.
WBU's Trevonta Robertson made it a one possession game with seven seconds left, but Clark went to the line and drained two foul shots with five seconds left to seal it.
"We worked so hard to catch up," Harrelson said. "We played as good of basketball as we've played all season."
Sammy Kalwanyi logged one of his best games of the season in his final game as a Pioneer: 16 points, a season-high 19 rebounds and four blocks for his eighth double-double in 23 games.
"Sammy was really big," Harrelson said.
"Fellow senior Ruben Lopez and Robertson added a dozen each, Throns finished with 11 and senior Tyrone Davis tacked on nine.
Trailing 39-34, Harrelson said he didn't start Davis to start the second half due to foul trouble, but put him in once the Pioneers fell behind 49-39 six minutes in.
"When I got him back on the floor that's when we came back. I could have left him out a little longer, but I felt like the game would have gotten away from us," Harrelson said.
Davis got buckets to start and end a 9-0 run that got the Pioneers back in it. Davis finally fouled out with 4:19 to go and the score tied at 53.
Besides Clark's 34, LSU-Shreveport got 15 points from D.J. Clayton and 12 from Benjamin Batts. No other Pilot scored more than four.
Harrelson couldn't say enough about Clark, a 5-foot-11 senior guard from Oklahoma City who scored 13 more than his 21-point average. Clark hit 11-of-21 field goals – including 4-of-8 3s – and made 8-of-9 at the free-throw line.
"He made some tough floaters, driving the length of the court. It was impressive," Harrelson said.
Wayland shot 49 percent from the field, compared to 38 percent for the Pilots, and the Pioneers made seven 3s, one more than their opponent. But WBU was outscored by 10 at the free-throw line, where the Pioneers were just 3-of-9 versus 13-of-20 for LSU-Shreveport.
"Our free throws were bad. We didn't get to the line enough, which is my fault," Harrelson said. "We made a couple of fouls that we shouldn't have made a long way from the basket and put them on the line. They didn't make all of them, but they made enough."
Wayland also was hurt by 20 turnovers; LSU-Shreveport gave it away just five times.
The Pilots advance to play either No. 11 Montana Western (27-7) or No. 19 Graceland, Iowa (26-10) in Monday's semifinals. The Red River Athletic Conference could have three represents in the final four should No. 21 Our Lady of the Lake of San Antonio win the final quarterfinal game and join LSU-Shreveport and 14th-ranked LSU-Alexandria, which dominated No. 9 Georgetown, Ky., 87-66.
Harrelson said the Pioneers, who went into the tournament ranked the equivalent of No. 26 and seeded seventh in their quadrant, should be proud of what they accomplished, not only this week with wins over seventh-ranked Central Methodist (Mo.) and No. 23 Life (Ga.), but all season.
"We have nothing to hang our heads about. We had a great season: 25 wins (the second-most in the last quarter-of-a-century), one game off what would have been our first conference regular-season title, and played in the conference tournament championship. This is just a great team.
"And," he added, "they did it with class. We won with class, we lost with class. Off the basketball court they're really high-character kids, which makes it fun as a coaching staff.
"I'm really proud of the team."
