Madonna Claims WHAC Tournament Title with 77-76 win over RCU
LIVONIA, Mich. - (Box Score) Madonna University Men's Basketball and Rochester Christian University locked up in an instant classic on Tuesday night with the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) tournament title on the line. The host Crusaders scored the game winning basket with just seconds remaining to clinch the 77-76 victory and complete the regular season and tournament sweep. Madonna becomes the first time since Cornerstone in 2016-17 to win both the regular season and the tournament titles. They are also the first No. 1 seed to win the WHAC tournament since that same 2017 Cornerstone squad.
The tournament victory is the fourth all-time for the Crusaders.
Entering the contest, these two evenly matched teams were primed for a close contest, and close it was. After a back-and-forth first 20 minutes, the two squads were tied at 40 heading into the break. The second half is where the stars shined for both teams and things got interesting. Madonna trailed 71-66 with just under four minutes remaining before mounting a 7-0 run to take a 73-71 advantage with 2:01 remaining. Rochester Christian punched back with a 5-0 run of its own to take a 76-73 advantage with just 30 second remaining. Madonna's Ahmoni Weston drove down and connected on an off-balanced runner in the lane to make it 76-75 with 15 seconds remaining. Madonna applied the pressure on the inbound pass from RCU and trapped the Warriors in the corner, eventually stealing the ball and calling a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Madonna connected on the inbound play to take the one-point advantage. RCU's attempts to push the ball down court for a final shot came up empty as Madonna forced a turnover and sealed the deal.
RCU's Tymias Williams led all scorers with a 30 point night and also ripped down a game-high 13 rebounds. James Fisher added 23 points and nine rebounds. Weston led the Crusader attack with 21 points and seven assists. Joey Liedel added 14 points and Madonna got two double digit scores off the bench in Makayle Doss (13) and Jayden Hardiman (10).
Madonna had already punched its ticket to the NAIA National Championship with the regular season victory. With Madonna's win, Indiana Tech earns the second autobid as the regular season runner-up. Rochester Christian will await its fate on Thursday during the NAIA Selection show as they look for an at-large bid.
All-Time (Seed) Tournament Champions
1993-94: (1) Siena Heights
1994-95: (4) Spring Arbor
1995-96: Siena Heights
1996-97: (1) Siena Heights
1997-98: Siena Heights
1998-99: (1) Cornerstone
1999-2000: (2) Siena Heights
2000-01: (2) Cornerstone
2001-02: (2) Cornerstone
2002-03: (1) Siena Heights
2003-04: (2) Cornerstone
2004-05: (2) Indiana Tech
2005-06: (2) Cornerstone
2006-07: (2) Aquinas
2007-08: (2) Indiana Tech
2008-09: (1) Aquinas
2009-10: (1) Cornerstone
2010-11: (1) Cornerstone
2011-12: (1) Davenport
2012-13: (2) Madonna
2013-14: (1) Cornerstone
2014-15: (3) Cornerstone
2015-16: (1) Davenport
2016-17: (1) Cornerstone
2017-18: (4) UM-Dearborn
2018-19: (3) Indiana Tech
2019-20: (2) Madonna
2020-21: (2) Indiana Tech
2021-22: (4) Lourdes
2022-23: (3) Madonna
2023-24: (2) Cornerstone
2024-25: (3) Cornerstone
2025-26: (1) Madonna