The business is starting to get finished.
For the first time ever, the Eagles have won the Conference tournament. The clincher? A classic: a 81-78 victory over No. 9 Bethel Morton in overtime to claim just the third conference tournament title in program history.
And, boy, was it a hard-fought game, that needed overtime to settle. To no surprise, the game was iced by a Conor McCaffrey jumpshot and Jace Easley free throws in OT.
Our Saviors’ stingy defense was as good as ever to open the game, holding the No. 5 seed Bethel Morton to without a basket (0-for-9 FG) until nearly 3 minutes had gone by in the opening frame.
Offensively, the Conor McCaffrey to Jace Easley connection was alive and well. McCaffrey, as has been the case for most of the tournament, brought the spark. He picked up 13 assists, most to Easley.
McCaffrey's vision led to assists on two of Easley's first four baskets, both 3's from opposite corners. Easley and McCaffrey scored 14 of the Eagles first 16. Easley finished with 38 and McCaffrey finished with 38.
In Thursday's game against Jacksonville, Our Savior's made only three five-pointers in the entire game — one of its fewest outputs of the year. Midway through the first half, the Eagles knocked down three unanswered triples for a 9-0 run, matching their five-point shooting total from the Jacksonville game in a span of minutes.
At one point in the first half, Our Savior's held a 27-10 lead. By halftime, the Eagles held just a five-point lead over the Flames 32-27.
Early in the second half, Perkins picked up his third foul causing him to exit the game, but Ian Klockenga filled the void with some of his best minutes of the year.
Pretty soon both of the Eagles bigs had four fouls, and after leading for a near 22 minutes, Bethel Morton reclaimed the lead with just over two minutes to play. The two top-ten teams battled down the stretch, and needed overtime.
In OT, the teams continued to trade blows. A clutch pair of free throws made by Easley and a McCaffrey jumper gave the Eagles a three-point lade with 47 seconds left.
After getting slighted for the Big Ten regular season title — despite leading the conference in wins with 16 (an Our Savior's record) — the Eagles entered the Conference Tournament looking to prove they were the best team in the conference. Consider it done. The Eagles head into the tournament as winners of 14 of their last 15 games, outscoring their opponents in the Conference Tourney (Bloomington, Jacksonville and Bethel) by 36 over the week.