Regular Season Crown Goes To Fighting Bees

In the biggest game of the year, the top two Midwest Classic Conference schools battled on the final night of the regular season for the MCC crown.  

Both St. Ambrose University and Mt. Mercy College entered the Monday night bout with identical 7-4 conference records, but only one would walk out with an 8-4 record and an MCC championship.

The Fighting Bees (18-13, 8-4) battled throughout the night to overcome a seven-point deficit with 10:16 to go in the second half and made their way to their second consecutive conference championship with a 75-67 victory over the Mt. Mercy Mustangs. 

The Mustangs (15-12, 7-5), behind their hostile crowd, came out of the gates ready to go, jumping out to an early 10-3 lead.  

That lead would be short lived when Curtis Clark made the second of two free throws, to give the Fighting Bees a 16-15 lead and sparking the Fighting Bee crowd that made the trip to Cedar Rapids.  

Tom Pavljasevic started the run with a tip-in, scoring two of his game high 25 points.  He also grabbed 11 rebounds on the night, to record his first double double of the season.

“It was good to have the crowd that we did especially on the road and in the environment that we were in, that really helped out,” Pavljasevic said.

The Mustangs kept in the game and took a 40-37 lead into halftime after Marques Brathwaite made a running lay-up with 00:02 showing on the clock. 

The beginning of the second half proved to be a struggle for both teams.  After a five-minute stretch where neither team could find the bottom of the bucket, Jason Geering got things going and put the Fighting Bees into the lead for good when he hit a three-pointer with 10:02 to go. 

Brett Jacobs was the only other Fighting Bee to score in double digits, finishing with 11 points and four rebounds. 

The games last minute had some excitement as the Mustangs closed to within three with 1:07 to play, but that would be all that they could muster as Matt Fitzpatrick and Pavljasevic combined to make four of five free throws to seal the Fighting Bees victory.

Kyle Hach led the Mustangs with 22 points while Brian Beurman added 12 points and ten boards.

The Fighting Bees will sit and wait to see who their next opponent will be as they receive the first round bye for the conference tournament.  

The semi-final game will be played at Lee Lohman Arena on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.  Their opponent will be determined on Friday night where the #4 seed William Penn Statesmen will host the #5 seed Viterbo V-Hawks.

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