WHITEWATER, Wis. — Chrishawn Orange hit a three-pointer with 0.1 seconds left to propel Augustana (Ill.) past defending NCAA Division III champion St. Thomas, 77-74, Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
The unranked Tommies (19-8) led 74-66 after a John Veil jumper with 41 seconds left, but got outscored 11-0 the rest of the way. The Tommies had two turnovers and missed two free throws in that stretch.
Orange hit a three-point shot over two St. Thomas defenders to secure the win for Augustana. Orange scored 20 points.
“Coach told me I had enough time to get down the floor, so once I got it I got past half court with two seconds left so I knew I had it, I knew I had to get up a shot,” Orange said.
At halftime, trailing by 4, the Tommies made zero of their nine three-point attempts. Although they didn’t go in, head coach John Tauer believed all nine were good shots. In the second half the Tommies battled back.
“We talk all the time about trusting the process and not being outcome-focused, and so at halftime we told them keep taking the same shots the law of averages will take over,” Tauer said.
The Tommies were able to regain momentum in the second half when Ryan Boll tied up the game 37-37. Boll led St. Thomas with 20 points.
“We were playing well and playing together, and it just happened to be in my hands in those situations. I thought they guarded me pretty respectively, so I just had to ease some pressure off of [Grant] Shaeffer who was being double teamed the entire game,” Boll said.
Shaeffer is one of four seniors on the team. Shaeffer finished the game with a total of 12 points to end his St. Thomas men’s basketball career.
“This game and my entire career, looking back I am trying to stay proud, I have a lot of emotions, but I have a lot of pride in my heart,” Shaeffer said. “I came into this program a little kid, and I am coming out a better man. It has been an amazing four years.”
Tauer said he was proud of his seniors and was sad that he was not going to be able to coach this same group of guys again.
“All year these guys have given us everything that they could, incredibly selfless, resilient and they stayed together, and so, well, the end… certainly hard to explain,” Tauer said.
Augustana (20-8), also unranked, plays Wisconsin-Whitewater, 85-81 winners over Northwestern-St. Paul in Friday’s other game.
Lydia Lockwood can be reached at lock0052@stthomas.edu