SAC Basketball Championship Feature: A Year Later, Memories From Historic Semifinal Remain Fresh

By Eric Wieberg, SAC Director of Strategic Communications

Denzail Jones had no idea.

Sitting in the locker room after the most exciting game of his career, the versatile Anderson guard was handed a box score. "I thought I'd scored around 30," he recalls.

Turns out he was way off.

His final line read like this – 50 points on 21-of-31 shooting. The most ever scored in a Food Lion SAC Basketball Championship game, and just one shy of the highest total in the conference's 36-year existence.

That performance, however, only begins to tell the story of last season's SAC Championship men's semifinal between Jones' Trojans and the Newberry Wolves. The game had it all.

Comebacks? Check. Buzzer beaters? You got it. Memorable individual performances? Clearly.

"An unbelievable college basketball game," said Newberry head coach Dave Davis.

"I can't think of any games that I've been a part of that were any better," added Anderson head coach Jason Taylor.

It will likely be some time before top-seeded Anderson's 113-106 double overtime victory over fourth-seeded Newberry is eclipsed. Anyone inside of the Tarlton Complex in Hickory, N.C. on March 3, 2012 came away knowing they had just witnessed history.

The game had all the makings of a classic well before tipoff. Led by Jones, who was named SAC Player of the Year just two days earlier, Anderson had supplanted its status as one of the top programs in the country. A year removed from reaching the NCAA Elite Eight, the Trojans spent a sizeable portion of the season in the national rankings and won the regular season SAC title with a record-setting 17-1 league mark.

Newberry was a program on the rise as well. After finishing in the bottom half of the SAC standings eight times since the start of the decade, the Wolves tied for fourth in 2010-11 and again placed fourth in the 2011-12 regular season.

And the Wolves weren't just improving, they were entertaining. In just his second year on campus, Davis' high-possession, rapid substitution style had his team among the nation's leaders in scoring. Five times during the regular season, they eclipsed the 100 point mark.

The two teams had also already played a thriller in the regular season, when Anderson won at Newberry 101-98 in a January game that saw 11 lead changes and four players score 20-plus points.

"When Anderson and Newberry play, it's always going to be a great game," said Jones.

The stage was set.

Both teams struggled to find a rhythm in the first half, as each shot below 34 percent and committed a combined 21 turnovers. In spite of the game lacking Newberry's typical up-tempo pace, though, the Wolves entered the locker room up 33-29.

The second half was a different story.

Offense picked up immediately out of the break. For Anderson, Jones and senior center Taylor Shugart shouldered nearly all the scoring load, while Newberry was more balanced, taking advantage of its frequent five-in, five-out substitutions.

"It seemed like both teams were struggling offensively, then an explosion happened," said Taylor.

Led by a swarming press and the shooting of Quayshun Hawkins – one of seven Newberry freshmen to play in the game – the Wolves began to stretch their lead midway through the half, going up by as many as 10.

Anderson's unquestioned leader knew it was time to step up.

"It was full-court, all-out pressure," said Jones of Newberry's defense. "There was not a moment in that game where you weren't going to see somebody in your face."

"I thrive off that," Jones added. "It puts me in a position where I have to be more of an attacker.

"I had the responsibility of making sure my team is in position to win."

Anderson came back and extended its own lead to as many as seven, anchored by Jones, who scored 20 points in the second half. But the clutch shooting would continue from Newberry as well, and neither team could pull away.

"You get in games like that, and the kids are just a little bit more focused," said Taylor. "Both teams had that. It was one team punching another, big shot after big shot."

The Trojans eventually went up four with 22 seconds remaining on a Jones free throw, and after a three-pointer by Matt Dixon on Newberry's ensuing possession, AU pushed its lead back to three on a Jones layup with 12 seconds on the clock.

Newberry knew it was down to one possession. And Davis knew whose number he wanted to call.

"Quayshun Hawkins is a confident guy with the ball," the coach said. "We didn't call timeout because we were comfortable with the ball in his hands."

Hawkins raced up the court and isolated himself on the right wing. He eventually faced an Anderson trap and was forced to take a contested fadeaway from several feet behind the line. The buzzer sounded. The ball went in.

"That was a prayer – maybe just short of a prayer – to send the game into overtime," said Davis.

"An unbelievable shot," added Taylor.

Newberry appeared poised to parlay its momentum into an overtime runaway, scoring the period's first seven points. The Wolves' pace finally appeared to be wearing Anderson down.

"We can usually take advantage of teams tempo-wide and then tire them out a bit," said Davis. "I thought their players, especially the big guys, were exhausted."

That's when Jones again took over.

"I knew somebody had to put the ball in the hole, and I had to take charge" he said. "I just caught fire."

Did he ever.

Jones scored Anderson's first 16 points in overtime, hitting a litany of acrobatic layups and contested jumpers. He pulled the Trojans back, getting them to within one possession inside a minute remaining.

"He just loaded his team on his back," Davis said of Jones. "We were doing what we were supposed to do defensively, and he still made plays.

"I was sitting over on the bench thinking this was impossible."

Anderson completed its comeback on a three by senior Tyrell McDowell with 12 seconds left – the only Trojan points in the period not scored by Jones – forcing another extra session.

AU went on to control the second overtime, hitting 9-of-10 foul shots to secure its spot in the SAC Championship title game.

Jones' record-setting afternoon overshadowed several other headlines. Shugart finished with 27 points and 19 rebounds for Anderson. Hawkins scored 30, including seven three-pointers. Newberry made 19 threes as a team. The AU victory marked Taylor's 100th at the school.

The game had implications on the program level as well. For Anderson, it gave the team its first-ever berth in the SAC Championship title game. For Newberry, trading jabs with one the nation's elite was another step in right direction.

But in the end, the day belonged to Jones.

"It was probably the single greatest individual performance that I've ever coached against," said Davis.

"The kid just wouldn't let us lose," added Taylor. "He's special."

For the SAC, the game further validated the event's status as one of Division II's top conference tournaments.

"There's no better conference, from a competitive and quality standpoint, than the SAC," said Taylor. "That experience is what you want from a conference.

"It made everyone feel like they were part of something special."