Williamson’s Basketball Team Captures National Championship

Williamson’s basketball team stunned the basketball world recently, capturing the 2008 U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship. It was the first national team championship in Williamson history.

Williamson finished the regular season ranked number four in the nation in the final USCAA poll, with the top eight teams receiving a bid to Nationals. Though a big underdog, the Williamson coaching staff and players played their best when it counted to bring home the championship.

Athletic director Dale Plummer said, “Having been involved in collegiate athletics for over 25 years and being somewhat of a historian, I’m not aware of any collegiate institution with a student body under 250 that has won a national championship in anything let alone men’s basketball. What these guys accomplished is almost unthinkable. What a great day for Williamson!”

The following is a re-cap from Williamson’s games during the USCAA Division II National Men’s Basketball Championships held in Portland, Maine:

USCAA Division II National Championship, Opening Round: Williamson 57–University of Cincinnati Clermont 54.
Number four seeded Williamson dominated number five seeded Hesser College in the opening round of the USCAA national tournament, 57-47. Williamson managed to hold Hesser, who was averaging over 80 points per game, to a mere 16 points in the first half! Though the final margin was 10 points, Williamson actually led by 18 points with under three minutes left to play.

Next up for Williamson was number eight seeded University of Cincinnati-Clermont, last year’s national champion who managed to upset number one seeded Penn State-Kensington to advance to the Final 4. The two teams met in the national playoffs four years ago with Cincinnati-Clermont coming out on top.
In addition to the team’s success, Williamson’s own Davar Watson was named a 1st team USCAA All-American at Wednesday night’s USCAA national banquet. Davar averages over 16 points and seven rebounds per game and is currently fourth in the nation in blocked shots. He becomes the third USCAA 1st team All-American in School history.

USCAA Division II National Semi-Final Game: Williamson 57–University of Cincinnati-Clermont 54
Down by four points late in the second half, Williamson rallied to take a late lead and then held their breath as a last second 3-point attempt by defending USCAA national champion University of Cincinnati-Clermont fell short, propelling Williamson into the 2008 USCAA Division II national championship game!
While Davar Watson once again led the team in scoring it was another tremendous defensive effort by the entire team that proved to be the difference for the Mechanics. They once again held a team almost 20 points below their average points per game total as they eked out the 57-54 victory.
The next day’s opponent in the championship game was Taylor University-Fort Wayne, the number three seed in the tournament. They made it into the finals by upsetting number two seed and host Southern Maine. Taylor-Fort Wayne and Williamson played in the semi-finals in 2006 with Taylor-Fort Wayne coming out on top.

The championship appearance marked the second time Williamson played for the USCAA National Championship. The Mechanics lost the 2004 championship game to Arkansas Baptist University, 79-59.

USCAA Division II National Championship Game: Williamson 80–Taylor University-Ft. Wayne 68.
Spurred on by national tournament MVP Davar Watson and another solid defensive game, Williamson pulled off the greatest win in Williamson sports history, defeating Taylor University-Fort Wayne 80-68 to win the 2008 U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association Division II National Championship!

The game certainly didn’t start out well for Williamson as they fell behind by nine points early in the first half. As has been the case all year long with this team, they managed to fight and claw their way back little by little and actually managed to take a 6-point lead into halftime.

While Williamson deliberately played a slower temp in its first two games at nationals, Coach Bill Michaels decided to try to speed things up in the second half of the championship game and his coaching strategy once again worked brilliantly. Williamson stretched the lead to 16 points midway through the second half and though Taylor-Ft. Wayne tried on several occasions to get back into the game, each time Williamson was able to repel them. Free throws once again proved huge down the stretch for Williamson. After going 0-6 from the line in the first half, they managed to shoot 12-15 (80 percent) from the free throw line in the second half to ice the win.

Davar had another huge game to lead the team, scoring 27 points and adding 15 rebounds. Nate Armstrong added 17 points. Jose Soto, playing in his final Williamson game, was named to the All-Tournament team along with Davar.

Coach Michaels summed up the championship saying, “On paper, we perhaps were the biggest underdogs in the tournament, yet our guys simply played the best tournament of all the teams and more importantly, we wanted it the most... I simply could not be more proud of a group of guys. We played like a true team and the chemistry between the guys was fantastic all year. We received numerous comments about how classy our guys were on and off the court and that perhaps has me just as pleased as winning it all. That is what Williamson, and Williamson basketball, is all about. I am so happy for each of the guys and especially our five seniors. What a special group of guys and a special team.”

The championship is the first team national championship in School history. With their 3-0 run at nationals, the basketball team finished the year with a 23-8 record. The 23 wins tied the School record for wins by a Williamson sports team. The 1996 baseball team also finished 23-8.

Once again, special congratulations go out to seniors Marquis Cuffee, Joe Marshall, Jose Soto, Shannon Taylor, and Donnie Van Horn, junior Ameer Fields, freshmen Pete Achuff, Nate Armstrong, Brian Campuzano, John Jewell, Kareen Walls, and Davar Watson, managers Brian Wallace and Curtis Schofield and, especially, head coach Bill Michaels and assistant coach Kevin Brown in winning the first national championship in Williamson sports history! Way to go, basketball team!