NSU men’s basketball’s hopes of national title repeat dashed in heartbreaking fashion

The dream died – in heartbreaking fashion.

Nova Southeastern University’s men’s basketball team lost to Minnesota State 88-85 in the NCAA Division II national final at Evansville, Indiana on Saturday afternoon.

With the score tied at 85, Minnesota State’s Kyreese Willingham nearly brought rain with a high, floating 3-point shot from the right corner that went in with just 0.8 seconds left, essentially winning the game.

Thus, NSU (32-3) fell one win short of what would’ve been two straight national titles under coach Jim Crutchfield.

NSU used a 13-0 second-half run to get back into the game, taking a 76-75 lead. The teams battled from there, with the score tied 85-85 in the final minute.

But, after NSU turned the ball over, Minnesota State worked for the final shot that became Willingham’s dagger to the heart of Sharks fans.

With the win, Minnesota State engineered a clean sweep of basketball titles as its women’s team won on Friday. The Mavericks join Central Missouri State in 1984 as the only two schools to win both the men’s and women’s national titles in the same year.

Shane Hunter led NSU with 13 points, but the Sharks shot just 37.5 percent, including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.

Minnesota State made 54.4 percent of its shots, including 11-of-24 on 3-pointers (45.8 percent), and that was the difference.