By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A shot made in 1998 occasionally rears its head all these years later on the basketball court. In the NCAA Tournament that year, Valparaiso opened the bracket as a big underdog against Mississippi State. Valpo trailed 69-67 into the final seconds when Homer Drew called the Pacer play. An inbounds pass sailed over the midcourt line where it was quickly passed to a running Bryce Drew. The 3-point shot helped propel Valpo to the Sweet 16 as the No. 13 seed.
Great Bend-native Matt Keeley had a Cinderella story of his own going in the NAIA National Tournament. His Ottawa University Arizona (OUAZ) Spirit needed a buzzer-beater and two wins against two top-10 nationally ranked teams to advance to the Fab Four in Kansas City. OUAZ erased most of a 23-point deficit but came up a point shy of the upset against top-ranked College of Idaho to end the season with a 25-10 record.
"Our guys are starting to Ted Lasso it and hit the 'believe' sign," Keeley said of the run. "Confidence is contagious and it's a big-time drug. We were just on a roll and we were playing well. The locker room at the end was pretty devastating because we were convinced we were going to win it. We thought we had as good a shot as anyone. When it ends, it caught us offguard because we thought we had another day left in us."
The Spirit made the 800-mile trip from Surprise, Ariz. to Park City's Hartman Arena for round one of the tournament. For Keeley, a 2000 graduate of Great Bend High School, the trip was like a Homecoming.
"When the draw came out we were super excited, or I was," he said. "It had nothing to do with who we were playing and everything to do with where we were playing. It was so close to home, and knowing right away some friends and family were going to be able to get down there."
But the best finish in school history almost never happened. The Spirit trailed Baker University by four points in the final 30 seconds of the first round. OUAZ forced overtime, but again the outlook was bleak as Baker took the lead with just 2.7 seconds remaining.
"In overtime, we kind of controlled it," Keeley said. "We thought with 16 seconds to go we're going to win. We have the ball and we're ahead. Then a turnover and a clutch shot by one of their players, now with two seconds left we're going to lose. We run the old Valpo play."
The old Valpo play worked. Josiah De'LaCerda scored the final four points in regulation to force overtime, and his 3-pointer at the buzzer sent the Spirit into the second round.
"What's hilarious is we're in the locker room afterward and our guys are like, 'Coach, where did you come up with that play? That was awesome,'" said Keeley. "'Yeah, I just thought of it. It just came to me.' We had to show them the video because most of these guys weren't born until like 2001."
Things got a little easier after that. OUAZ downed seventh-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan to advance to the Round of 16 at Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium. The NAIA Tournament was played in the historic building from 1937 to 1974, then has hosted each tournament since 2002. The building played host to three of the first NCAA Final Fours. It hosted its final NCAA Tournament game in 1964.
"Wilt Chamberlain played in that building, and John Wooden has coached in that building," Keeley said. "To take your team and be a part of that, and now they get to experience it, that's what was really fun. I hope I get to do that often. Winning is hard, so you never take it for granted, but to take a team and be a part of the history of the tournament and the history of that building, and they leave that legacy, that's probably the coolest thing."
OUAZ defeated Southeastern University (Fla.) 79-71 to advance to the school's first-ever Great 8. The Spirit then knocked off tenth-ranked Montana Tech 76-58 to advance to the Fab Four. There, OUAZ drew top-ranked College of Idaho, winners of 34-straight games, including 16 consecutive wins by double figures.
The Spirit trailed by 23 points with under 13 minutes to play in that contest. Keeley's team made a run. The coach nearly decided to begin fouling with more than six minutes to play. Instead, he waited until the final media timeout and began fouling with nearly three minutes remaining. The strategy paid off as the Yotes went 18 of 30 from the line in the second half. Two late missed Idaho free throws resulted in an offensive rebound and two made free throws. Those would prove to be the difference.
Twice in the final seconds, OUAZ was able to cut the gap to a single point. De'leCerda, hero of the first game of the tournament, put up a game-tying attempt near the buzzer. He rebounded the blocked shot and swished a jumper at the buzzer, but the shot came from inside the arc. The Spirit comeback bid came up one point shy at 73-72.
Keeley accepted the job in Arizona six years ago. He's received two regional coaching honors and reached the national tournament in back-to-back seasons. It's a far cry from the program's beginnings - using area high school gyms that made it recruiting difficult. Keeley hopes that will change after this year's run.
"We have been back in the office both (Monday and Tuesday), taking a swing at some guys maybe we couldn't have gotten to answer the phone in the past," he said. "All of a sudden, we're making plans to get them on campus and into their living rooms to present all the positives we have going on out here. We think there are several of them. We're definitely trying to take that momentum and show you're not helping to build it, now you're helping to sustain it."