MIDWESTERN STATE 91, INCARNATE WORD 74
Midwestern State is the nation's number three team in the NCAA's Division II and the Mustangs were hosting the South Central Regional Championships as the top seed. Incarnate Word, seeded eighth, drew the short straw.
The Mustangs (29-2), the Lone Star Conference champions, came fast out of the gate and before a home sellout crowd of 3,100 got the Cardinals in an immediate hole from which UIW could never seem to climb to the top. Incarnate Word got the game's opening points on a layup by Chris Johnson but over the next six minutes MSU ran off to a 16-4 lead.
Between 13:50 and 8:05, five minutes and 55 seconds, Incarnate Word came back with a run of 17-5 to cut the margin to five at 26-21. But Midwestern State turned that table with a streak of 13-2 and the margin was up to 16, 39-23 and the Cardinals would not come back.
The apex of the MSU game came at 17:54 of the second half when the margin was 24 at 51-27.
That began the highlight of the evening for the Cardinals faithful. Led by the Heartland Conference most valuable player, senior guard Pierce Caldwell, UIW cut that lead in half. In a time span of 5:50 Incarnate Word scored 23 points, 17 by Caldwell.
By the time he was done the score was what seemed to be a manageable 62-50 with 12:40 to go. But the next five minutes belonged to the Mustangs and the difference was back into the high teens where it would stay until game's end.
During his shooting clinic, in a span of 1:11 Caldwell made three three's. Forty seconds later he had a jumper for two more. He then finished off the run with a pair of three's in 1:22.
A close look at the stats sheet shows most the final numbers of the two squads being highly similar. That is until looking at the team shooting percentages. UIW shot .474 from the field. Midwestern State fired away at .607. With one fewer field attempt the Mustangs made seven more baskets and that was a major share of the game's difference.
For UIW, Caldwell ended his remarkable career with a team high 22 points including being 6-10 on his specialty, the three-pointer. He also led the Cardinals with five assists and two steals. He finished his four-year career with 1,879 points which are second on the all-time UIW list. And his final 358 three's are a school record.
Forward Tracy Robinson ended the night with 19 points and five rebounds while forward Chris Johnson checked in with 15 points and a team high six rebounds.
Incarnate Word was playing in its second consecutive NCAA tournament after consecutive Heartland titles. In the past two years UIW is a combined 46-14 being 23-7 both seasons. The problem has been running smack into Midwestern State both times in the first round of the regional affair.
