ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 16, 1996 TAG: 9603180047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
DEMETRIUS POLES HELPS the Profs top Illinois Wesleyan with an unlikely basket.
It was ``the man in the corner" who kept Rowan in the game Friday, but it was the man in the middle who won it.
The Profs, playing in the Division III men's basketball Final Four for the third time in the past four years, topped Illinois Wesleyan 79-77 at the Salem Civic Center to reach the national championship game for the first time in school history.
The Profs face Hope (Mich.) College tonight at 7.
"It feels very good after three years of fighting to get to the championship game to finally do it," said Rowan coach Dr. John Giannini.
The Profs finally did it with 8.5 seconds left when 6-foot-8 senior forward Demetrius Poles, trying to get an offensive rebound, took a wild swipe at the ball and sent it looping through the net for a 78-77 lead. "I had no chance to grab it, so I had to tip it in," Poles said.
Illinois Wesleyan All-America forward Chris Simich was right there with Poles, trying to prevent such an occurrence. "I felt like I had it," Simich said. "Somebody slapped at the ball and it went in. I knew right there it wasn't meant to be. It was the most exciting game I've ever been a part of. It's sad a crazy shot like that has to go in."
The Titans will meet Franklin & Marshall in the consolation game today at 4:30.
Simich gave his team its last lead, 77-75, on two free throws with 23.2 seconds left. Nothing, however, went right for the Titans after that. "You work all year toward the national championship and in the course of about 20 seconds, it's over and it's hard to give that up," said Illinois Wesleyan coach Dennie Bridges.
The Titans gave up 30 points to the man Bridges referred to as "the man in the corner," Rowan swingman Terrence Stewart. Half of those came on 3-pointers from the corner.
Stewart, Rowan's all-time leading scorer, scored his team's first 11 points of the second half. Stewart's 30 points led all scorers. Simich had 27 and Bryan Crabtree 21 for the Titans.
Illinois Wesleyan's downfall could be attributed to a number of things, most notably a season-high 26 turnovers. Allowing the Profs 19 offensive rebounds didn't help, either, but the last one hurt the worst.
"Coming in, I thought that defensive rebounding would be a big key to the game," Bridges said. "And so it happens that an offensive rebound basket loses the game for us."
The game was played before the largest crowd, 3,872, ever to see a Division III semifinal game. Hope's contingent filled more than a quarter of the civic center, with Illinois Wesleyan's a close second. see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff Illinois Wesleyan's Chris Simichby CNB(front) controls the ball in front of teammates T.J. Posey and
Andrew Boyden (rear).