Westrol/ 32-0 Bentley face stiffest test
This has nothing to do with MU, but there has been some Bentley chatter on here mainly due to the presence of freshman starting guard, Manasquan High School grad Jason Westrol...this story will appear in either the Tuesday or Wednesday Press...
By TONY GRAHAM
STAFF WRITER
Former Manasquan High School standout Jason Westrol
will have some home town backing, and his Bentley College
basketball team will have what amounts to a home court advantage in the NCAA
Division II Elite Eight.
This will be the scene Wednesday when the Falcons (32-0), ranked No. 2
nationally in Division II, take on No. 1 and defending champion Winona State, Minn. (33-0 ) in a
first round matchup in the event, equivalent to the Final
Four in Division I.
The 8:30 p.m. game is scheduled for the MassMutual Center in Springfield,
Mass., about a 60-90 minute drive across the state from Bentley's Waltham campus.
Wednesday's game will be carried on CSTV and webstreamed at
www.ncaasports.com/dii.
""My parents always come up to the games and a couple of my friends may be
coming up from home,'' said Westrol, a starting freshman guard.
Bentley will send a caravan of buses to the game Westrol said. ""They're
bringing I think 20 fan buses over to root us on,'' said Westrol
Averaging 7.9 ppg., Westrol and sophomore Lew Finnegan each scored 13
points last week when Bentley captured its first Division II Northeast
Regional championship with a 63-54 win over Bryant University, Smithfield,
R.I.
Westrol, who has started the last 28 games for Bentley, is also contributing
3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
Winona's Warriors, led by 6-9 junior center John Smith, the North Central
Region Player of the Year, extended their Division II
record
winning streak to 54 games with an 89-76 victory over Minnesota State-Mankato
in the region final.
""We've just to be smart om him (Smith), play disciplined basketball, limit our
fouls, try tp stop them as much as possible,'' said Westrol.
While the game with Winona may seem like it should be the national final, Westrol
said the brackets were worked out before the season.
""It was pre-determined in th beginning of the year the Northeast Region
would match up with the North Central,'' said Westrol. ""So they didn't know
then they'd be No. 1 and we'd be No. 2.''
No matter what happens Wednesday, Westrol realizes he's already been part of
something unique in athletics.
""It's obviously a once in a lifetime thing for us,'' he said. ""You always
dream of something like this.''
If Bentley advances it will play in a semifinal game 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
The final is 1 p.m.
Saturday and will be televised on CBS.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
By TONY GRAHAM
STAFF WRITER
Former Manasquan High School standout Jason Westrol
will have some home town backing, and his Bentley College
basketball team will have what amounts to a home court advantage in the NCAA
Division II Elite Eight.
This will be the scene Wednesday when the Falcons (32-0), ranked No. 2
nationally in Division II, take on No. 1 and defending champion Winona State, Minn. (33-0 ) in a
first round matchup in the event, equivalent to the Final
Four in Division I.
The 8:30 p.m. game is scheduled for the MassMutual Center in Springfield,
Mass., about a 60-90 minute drive across the state from Bentley's Waltham campus.
Wednesday's game will be carried on CSTV and webstreamed at
www.ncaasports.com/dii.
""My parents always come up to the games and a couple of my friends may be
coming up from home,'' said Westrol, a starting freshman guard.
Bentley will send a caravan of buses to the game Westrol said. ""They're
bringing I think 20 fan buses over to root us on,'' said Westrol
Averaging 7.9 ppg., Westrol and sophomore Lew Finnegan each scored 13
points last week when Bentley captured its first Division II Northeast
Regional championship with a 63-54 win over Bryant University, Smithfield,
R.I.
Westrol, who has started the last 28 games for Bentley, is also contributing
3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
Winona's Warriors, led by 6-9 junior center John Smith, the North Central
Region Player of the Year, extended their Division II
record
winning streak to 54 games with an 89-76 victory over Minnesota State-Mankato
in the region final.
""We've just to be smart om him (Smith), play disciplined basketball, limit our
fouls, try tp stop them as much as possible,'' said Westrol.
While the game with Winona may seem like it should be the national final, Westrol
said the brackets were worked out before the season.
""It was pre-determined in th beginning of the year the Northeast Region
would match up with the North Central,'' said Westrol. ""So they didn't know
then they'd be No. 1 and we'd be No. 2.''
No matter what happens Wednesday, Westrol realizes he's already been part of
something unique in athletics.
""It's obviously a once in a lifetime thing for us,'' he said. ""You always
dream of something like this.''
If Bentley advances it will play in a semifinal game 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
The final is 1 p.m.
Saturday and will be televised on CBS.
e-mail tonygsports@aol.com
posted by Tony Graham at 5:55 PM
5 Comments:
Tony,
Do you know who won this game?
Westrol, Bentley have streak snapped
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/22/07
STAFF REPORT
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A near-perfect men's basketball season is over for Bentley College freshman guard Jason Westrol, a graduate of Manasquan High School.
Defending NCAA Division II champion Winona State (Minn.) pulled away in the second half to down Bentley Wednesday night, 64-51, in the first round of the Elite Eight at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.
Despite the presence of 20 busloads of fans from its campus in Waltham, Mass., Bentley (32-1) fell behind early while Winona (34-0) extended its Division II-record winning streak to 56 games.
Last week, Westrol tied for the team lead with 13 points when Bentley topped Bryant University, 63-54, to win its first Northeast Region title and gain its first Elite Eight berth.
That victory was the 32nd straight for the Falcons, who earlier this season broke the all-time New England record of 29 consecutive victories set by Bob Cousy's Holy Cross University team in 1949-50.
But there was no magic Wednesday for the former Shore Conference player or his college team.
Westrol's only basket of the game came during an 11-2 Winona run as the Warriors established a 23-16 lead.
Later, the Minnesota team used a 10-0 spurt to take a 35-23 lead, just the third time this season Bentley had trailed by 10 or more points in a game.
Winona led at halftime, 37-29, as senior guard Zach Malvik scored 15 of his 19 points.
Behind back-to-back baskets by 6-foot-9 John Smith (14 points, 11 rebounds), the Division II Player of the Year, Winona opened its largest lead, 58-39.
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- No. 1-ranked Winona State University (35-0) scored four points in the final 40 seconds of regulation play and then outscored the University of Central Missouri 7-2 in the final 2:09 of overtime play to record a 90-85 victory in the second semifinal game of the Elite Eight held at the MassMutual Center.
The victory allowed the Warriors the opportunity to defend their NCAA Division II National Championship March 24 against Barton College, NC (30-5). The championship final will be a repeat of last year's Elite Eight quarterfinal game between the two teams.
Tony, just for information purposes, Winona State lost today at the buzzer. Led 74-67 with 45 seconds left. A player from Barton scored 3 straight hoops, then tied it at 75 with 10 seconds left. Barton then got a steal and said guy hit a layup as time expired!
Re : Barton. I didn't watch the game ..silly me!. I knew WS was winning and was shocked to learn Sunday they had lost. What an ending!
This from the Winona web site...Barton didn't have a write up!!!!!
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- The winning streak is over.
The run for a second straight national championship is over. It all came to an end in the championship game of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight when Barton College, NC came back to defeat Winona State University 77-75.
Barton (31-5) ended the Warriors' 56-game winning streak by scoring when the buzzer sounded. That capped a fantastic run for the Bulldogs, who were down by seven points, 74-67, with 45 seconds left in the game and then outscored the Warriors 10-1 down the stretch for the final margin of victory.
Winona State (35-1) led by as much as 14 points, 39-25, in the first half and were up by ten, 66-56, with 8:56 left to play.
Zach Malvik led the WSU scoring attack with 26 points, while Jonte Flowers had a double-double with 12 rebounds and 13 points.
Quincy Henderson provided a major offensive spark for the Warriors with 19 points and John Smith finished off the game with ten points.
The winning streak was the longest in NCAA Division II history and covered over 14 months.
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