FARMINGTON, Maine -- The SUNY Delhi men's basketball team rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit on its way to an 83-77 win over UMaine-Farmington in the championship game of the 2023 North Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
The win sends SUNY Delhi (20-8) to its first NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship appearance. The Broncos will learn their first round destination and opponent when the full tournament bracket is unveiled on Monday, Feb. 27, at 1:00 p.m. via webstream on NCAA.com.
The Broncos' Mavenson Therneus tallied 17 points in the second half alone, on his way to a game-high 21 points, to propel SUNY Delhi to the second-half comeback.
“I’m just so proud of this group. We’ve battled a lot of adversity this season so to win the NAC and have the opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time is huge,” said head coach Zack Thomsen, “Our seniors continue to lead us and I couldn’t be happier for them!”
The start of the game saw the Beavers jump out to an 11-0 lead as the Broncos' shots just weren’t falling, missing on each of their first seven attempts. Delhi would regroup and started to chip away at the deficit, pulling to within five twice. They would go into the half down seven, 41-34, as the first 20 minutes of action was full of runs for both teams.
Senior Jacob Beach led the Broncos in the opening half with 10 points on .571 shooting (4-of-7) from the field, including four of his last five attempts of the frame. Isiah Barnes made his impact felt on defense with two steals as he was tasked with guarding UMaine-Farmington's Terion Moss, the NAC Player of the Year.
After a 1-of-11 shooting performance from three-point range in the first half, the Broncos proved more effective from long distance in the second stanza, knocking down six-of-14 three-point attempts including three from Therneus.
The Broncos eventually knotted the game up at 70-70, taking their first lead of the night with 3:31 remaining on a steal and breakaway dunk by Therneus. A pair of threes by McCarthy and Therneus stretched the Delhi advantage to 78-71 as the game clock passed under the two-minute mark.
A three-pointer by UMaine-Farmington's Kyle Donlin and a layup by Jack Kane pulled the Beavers to within four, 80-76, with 31 seconds to play. A pair of foul shots by McCarthy and one by Naphtali Regilus helped keep the Broncos in front, while UMaine-Farmington went 0-of-3 from the field down the stretch.
Four SUNY Delhi starters posted double-digit scoring performances. Beach finished with 18 points, while McCarthy and Isiah Barnes charted 16 and 13 points respectively. Beach also led the Broncos on the glass with eight rebounds, while Therneus and Barnes each dished out four assists and recorded three steals.
Moss paced UMaine-Farmington with 20 points, while Kane posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Donlin also finished in double figures with 13 points.
As a team, UMaine-Farmington committed 15 turnovers leading to 15 SUNY Delhi points, while the Broncos committed only six giveaways resulting in four points for the Beavers.
Beach was tabbed for Tournament MVP honors and was named to the All-Tournament team. He was joined by McCarthy and Therneus from SUNY Delhi, Moss and Kane from UMaine-Farmington, Griffin Guerrette from East Division semifinalist UMaine-Presque Isle, and Markel Jenkins from West Division semifinalist SUNY Cobleskill.