Dubois Men Take Home the PSUAC Title

Written by: Dan Smay

The PSUAC Men's Basketball Championship game between DuBois and Wilkes Barre was not a high statistics game, unless you add in the free throws, but it sure ended with some non-typical drama.  The game started much like a Wisconsin vs. Indiana basketball game, just tough defense with the first point not coming until 3:19 into the start of the game.  DuBois was up only 10-6 at the 11:30 mark left in the half, but both teams would hit a few quality shots after taking a while to settle in.  With both teams having shot 19 free throws a piece in the first half though, it was hard to get any momentum going.  With 1:55 left in the half DuBois' Woody Mitchell hit a 3 pointer to put his team up by 7.  Wilkes Barre would not be done with the half yet however, going on a small run to close the half only down by 30-26.

The start of the second half would show us nothing new with regards to hard-nosed defense, and a plethora of foul shots for each team.  DuBois' Isaiah Jordan hit a big 3 to cap a 7-0 run early, but the deficit would stay the same for the scrappy Wilkes Barre players as they hit the 13:00 mark trailing still by 11 points.

Then, as if they just realized their problematic situation, Marques Middleton and Mike Buczkowski hit back to back three's to pull Wilkes Barre within six.  By the 4:31 mark, thanks to another Buczkowski three and a Keith Johnson jumper, Wilkes Barre pulled to within one, 61-62.

A few back and forth buckets kept the game interesting with time winding down, but DuBois' Chris Dickison would make his bucket, and one, steal the ball back, and knock down his next two free throws to put his team up eight with only 25 seconds left in the game.

Cue drama, as Dickison is fouled again with only 13 seconds on the clock.  A dispute over the foul and near the DuBois bench led to a technical foul on Dickison, but that would not end it.  Words and gestures would be exchanged until Dickison would be tossed from the game, as well as the DuBois' bench getting a technical.  This would give Wilkes Barre four free throws, and the ball, but DuBois would also still have their two to shoot from the foul on Dickison.  Wilkes Barre's Jacob Bronder would hit 3 of 4, and DuBois would hit 1 of 2.  A valiant effort would not be enough in the remaining 13 seconds however, as DuBois would go on to win the Conference Championship with a final of 75-68.

Dickison would lead all scorers with 22 points with his teammate Mitchell putting up 19 to help DuBois seal the victory.  Wilkes Barre had only one player in double figure scoring, Jacob Ponder with 11.  DuBois shot only 21-35 from the free throw line, with Wilkes Barre shooting just slightly better at 26-38.