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Really, this had to be the matchup.
Top-seeded Misericordia vs. No. 2 Delaware Valley for the Freedom Conference title. Anything else would have been just a bit anticlimactic.
Naturally, today’s showdown will crown the league champion, who will earn an automatic bid into next week’s NCAA tournament. But more than that, for the visiting Aggies, it’s a chance at some payback.
“I’m sure they feel like they owe us one or two,” said Cougars coach Trevor Woodruff, who was just named the league’s Coach of the Year on Friday. “We feel like we’re going to go play Saturday like we did the first two times. You just go play.”
Emotions figure to be raw by the time tip-off arrives at 2 p.m. at the Anderson Center, where these two teams played one of the conference’s wildest games of the season earlier this month.
Misericordia (20-6) had already stunned the Aggies on their home floor in January when senior Joe Busacca — the newly crowned Freedom Conference Player of the Year — knocked down a three-pointer in the final seconds of a 70-69 victory.
The Cougars somehow managed to top that two weeks later, erasing a seemingly insurmountable nine-point Delaware Valley lead in the final minute. Jamie Egan hit a three before the buzzer to force overtime and first-team all-conference forward Steve Ware took over from there, dominating in the extra frame to seal a 72-63 win.
It was more than just the outcome of those two regular-season meetings that stung the Aggies, however. The Delaware Valley bench was particularly irritated at the end of that recent overtime.
With the game in hand, Busacca gave a windmill celebration with his arm while dribbling out the clock, prompting Aggies coach Casey Stitzel to yell, “We’ll see you again!” in the direction of the Cougars guard.
He was right. Delaware Valley (16-10) earned another shot at Misericordia by dethroning defending champ DeSales in the semifinals. The Aggies controlled play the entire way en route to a decisive 83-67 win.
“Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Misericordia up at Misericordia,” Stitzel told The Intelligencer in Doylestown after topping the Bulldogs. “I believe that you have to beat the best to be your best.
“Every time we’ve won it, we beat the best.”
For their part, the Cougars are trying not to focus on those dramatic finishes.
There was enough to go over just from Wednesday after narrowly surviving a challenge from King’s, winning 57-52 in overtime in the league’s other semifinal.
“I think you probably throw everything out,” Woodruff said. “We’re not going to talk a lot about the previous two games. We’re going to talk about some things we did wrong (against King’s), some things we did well and then zero in on what we think we need to do to beat them specifically.”
That being said, those first two contests ensured today’s title game would be in Dallas instead of Doylestown — no small detail.
The Cougars have never lost a Freedom Conference tournament game on their home floor since joining the league, improving to 4-0 there by beating the Monarchs. They are 1-4 on the road.
Wednesday’s game featured the season’s best crowd at the Anderson Center as fans from both local schools packed the bleachers, spilling onto the floor in front of the student section with more perched on the railing above the gym.
But that atmosphere will be tough to duplicate today. Aside from a much longer trip for the visiting fans, Misericordia’s spring break began when classes ended Friday, potentially limiting how many students might show up.
Regardless of the crowd, it will be a matchup between two of the league’s most successful programs in recent years.
Stitzel took over the Aggies in 2008-09, the same season the Cougars joined the league. Since then, Delaware Valley has gone from a perennial cellar-dweller to a two-time conference champion. The Aggies’ most recent title came in 2013 after beating the Cougars 65-49 in the semifinals.
Misericordia, meanwhile, has made the playoffs in six straight years and will be playing in the finals for the fourth time in that stretch. The Cougars beat Wilkes at home in 2012 and lost on the road to DeSales in both 2010 and 2014.
That loss to the Bulldogs in last year’s championship was particularly hard to swallow. The Cougars led by nine in the second half, but Ware suffered a broken hand and DeSales rallied to force overtime, ending Misericordia’s season with a 73-64 loss.
Getting back to this point has been a goal for the Cougars ever since.
“We were optimistic,” Woodruff said. “We felt like we had a good point guard and a good post game. And if you have those two things, you can hopefully fill in the pieces with the rest.
“Did I think we were championship material? Potentially. But I knew we had a lot of work (to do). We needed some guys to come along, and I think you’ve seen it with guys like Jamie Egan and Griffin Sponaugle and Jesse Urich.
“Guys have just continued to get a little bit better. The guys we thought were going to be good have been. And we’ve put ourselves into position to win it for the fourth time in six years. So I’m really excited about that.”