“I felt like, man, we’re a little different. I don’t quite know where we’re going to go exactly with it, but I think our guys are bought in. I think they’re connected. We can be more physical and disruptive. We had the right hearts in the room,” he said.
Sargent’s premonition turned out to be right on the button.
After starting 5-7, the top-seeded Raiders caught fire and won their fifth league tourney title Tuesday night on ESPN — along with an automatic NCAA bid — after capturing their fifth regular-season crown a couple of weeks ago.
They beat third-seeded Detroit Mercy, 66-63, at Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis — surviving a wild finish to do it.
Down 12 with 9:52 to go, they chiseled away at the deficit and tied the game on Kellen Pickett’s two foul shots with 3:40 left.
Detroit’s Orlando Lovejoy made two free throws. But Pickett scored on a layup, and then Logan Woods knocked down back-to-back 3’s 50 seconds apart for a 62-56 lead with 1:21 to go — Woods’ only points of the night.
“It was our defense — when it wasn’t easy to play defense because of how ugly it was offensively. For Logan Woods to step up and make those shots really does speak to the team (chemistry),” coach Clint Sargent said on his post-game radio show, before excusing himself to help cut down the nets.
The Raiders (23-11), though, missed some late free throws, including two by Michael Cooper with 9.1 seconds left. And the Titans had a chance to tie it or win.
Lovejoy drove, and Pickett rejected it with two seconds left. Michael Imariagbe then made one of two foul shots at 0.5 for the final margin.
“We were down late in the game, and we didn’t come down here for no reason. I thought, ‘We’ve got to wake up and stay resilient.’ I wanted to bring energy to our team,” Woods said.
“I wouldn’t want to experience this with any other guys.”
TJ Burch had 19 points and 57 for the tourney. Pickett had 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks against Detroit, and Imariagbe had 12 points and seven boards.
Burch was named tourney MVP, while Cooper made the all-tourney team. He only had five points in the final, but he scored 25 and 17 in the first two games.
Detroit Mercy (17-15) went on a 23-3 run from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half to seemingly take control.
The Raiders made 23 of 58 shots (40%) and went only 4 of 17 from 3 and 16 of 26 on free throws.
They’ve won three tourney crowns in the last nine years. Their other wins came in 2022, 2018, 2007 and, as part of the Mid-Continent Conference, 1993.
The Titans went 21 of 60 (35%) from the field, 4 of 10 from 3, and 17 of 19 on free throws.
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