Trine advances to the Final Four for the first time, and it's a short trip. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

By Patrick Coleman
D3sports.com

ANGOLA, Ind. — "I felt like the play was screaming for me to make it."

That's how Cortez Garland described the play that he hit at the buzzer, the shot that hit nothing but the bottom of the net. The one that sent Trine University to the Division III men's basketball Final Four for the first time with an 88-86 overtime win against UW-Platteville.

The Final Four that is just 40 minutes down the road in Fort Wayne. 

In August, Garland was working a merchandising job in Texas. But he and his brother, Fred, decided to give Division III basketball one last shot, and indeed, that final shot Cortez Garland took at Trine's on-campus arena, the MTI Center, set off the biggest celebration of the building's short career.

Trine is going to the Final Four! #buzzerbeatet #d3hoops pic.twitter.com/Pqgg4eRLVS

— D3hoops/Patrick Coleman (@d3hoops) March 10, 2024

The shot wouldn't have had a chance to happen if Garland hadn't summoned some of his last bits of energy with 1:10 left in regulation. The Thunder (27-4) were down by eight points with seventy seconds left when Garland poked the ball away from Platteville and started the comeback. 

"I was running on mental capacity," Garland said. "I hadn't sat down the whole game. I saw time was starting to dwindle and I just had to make a defensive play at that point. It was critical to get a stop and get down and score without wasting so much time."

Cortez fed his brother Fred, who hit a layup with 1:06 left to cut the lead to 77-71. Platteville (26-5) missed a three-pointer, Aidan Smylie got the rebound and Emmanuel Megnanglo threw it down off the feed from Fred Garland and it was a four-point game with 31 seconds left.

Now it was time to send Platteville to the line, and the Thunder caught a huge break when the Pioneers missed the front end of a 1-and-1 once, and made just one of two on the other trip. That, in conjunction with Drew Moore hitting a bucket, made it 78-75, and after Logan Pearson missed the front end of his bonus situation, Platteville fouled Moore 70 feet from the basket with 0.9 seconds left, sending Moore for two shots. After making the first, Moore ran the intentional miss to perfection, got his own rebound, and was fouled with 0.3 left. Moore made them both to get the game to overtime.

The teams went back and forth in overtime, with Smylie hitting a big three in the final minute to put Trine up two and Garland hitting one of two foul shots to make it 86-83. Pearson, however, redeemed himself for the missed shot by making three free throws with 8.5 seconds left to tie the game.

That set up the final heroics, as Cortez Garland took the inbounds pass.

"I kind of walked the clock down a little bit," Garland said after the game. "No. 20 (Brady Olson) had been playing good defense all day. I knew he would commit hard to my drive, as he had been doing so all game. I knew he would be anxious on my drive.

I don't think I'd shot a mid-range pull-up all game -- I had been getting to the rim and he was good at beating me to the spot, so once I saw he overcommitted, I was set up to do my signature step-back."

And the celebration was on.

"I was ecstatic. I felt like the play was screaming for me to make it. I had a turnover late in regulation that was a costly play for us, I missed a free throw in overtime that could have sealed it and after all that, we were still in position to win the game."

It's the first time since the NCAA Tournament moved to primarily automatic bids in 2000 that all four men's sectional hosts advanced to the Final Four. 

Tyler Dearman did practically the same thing as Cortez Garland, except in regulation, as he took the inbounds with 12 seconds left and brought it to the other end to hit a jumper off the blocks with 2.3 seconds left to give Guilford a 50-48 lead and victory, returning the Quakers (26-4) to the Final Four for the first time since 2010. CNU's half-court shot fell short at the buzzer and Guilford fans stormed the floor. The win ended the Cinderella run of Christopher Newport, which was trying to defend its national championship by going on the road each of the first two weekends. Julius Burch ended the night with a game-high 21 points, while Dearman was held to just five. And in fact, the field goal he hit in the closing seconds was the only one he made all game, as he went just 1-for-16, and had just one offensive rebound to boot.

Trinity (Conn.) reached 30 wins for the first time in program history and advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1995 as the Bantams defeated Calvin 69-62. The Knights (25-4) were down one after a four-point pay by Marcus Bult early in the second half before Trinity (30-1) went on a 10-0 run over the next six minutes. Calvin later got as close as six with 1:20 left but Trinity close theg ame out at the foul line. The Bantams had three scorers in double figures, led by a team-high 15 points from senior Ben Callahan-Gold.

Owen Varnado led Calvin with 21 points, while Jalen Overway was limited to three points on the night. He did add 11 rebounds and six assists.

Adam Brazil scored a game-high 22 points, including 12 points in the first 4:50 of the contest, to lead No. 1 Hampden-Sydney to a 68-60 home win vs. No. 19 Nebraska Wesleyan. The win sets up a rematch for Hampden-Sydney with conference rival Guilford, which is one of just two teams to defeat Hampden-Sydney this season.

Guilford is also the alma mater of Tigers head coach Caleb Kimbrough.

Brazil's early spurt gave H-SC a 17-3 advantage. H-SC continued its momentum to begin the second half, expanding the margin to 45-29 as Hardy scored six quick points and Hubbard added a free throw and a basket inside, assisted by Brazil. The Tigers took their largest lead of the contest at 51-32 with 12:57 on the clock after another basket down low by Hardy. NWU tried to rally back and was able to close to within 52-44 at 9:28 after quick 12-1 run, but Brazil stopped it with another three-pointer at 9:15 (55-44) and the Garnet & Grey was able to maintain a double-digit lead for most of the remainder of the contest … leading 57-45 at 8:35 after a pair of free throws by Clements … 59-48 following a slam dunk by Hubbard off a nice assist from Clements … 65-53 at 2:33 after two free throws by Hardy. The Prairie Wolves did close at the end with seven late points, but Brazil made 3-4 free throws to provide for the final margin of victory.

"What an amazing feeling!" said Kimbrough. "Being able to celebrate with the guys and with the community, the students and our families. It just feels good to put in a lot of work and then to be able to experience it with the people you love."