Brookhaven Stuns Richland Behind Roman's Heroics to Reach District Championship
DALLAS – Jeremy Roman hit a 3-pointer with 1.1 second left, lifting Dallas College Brookhaven to a 51-50 dramatic win over host and No. 4-ranked Dallas College Richland in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III South Central District semifinals Friday.
The win sends the fourth-seeded Bears on to their first district championship game under nine-year coach Chris McGill. Brookhaven (14-18) will meet sixth-ranked Dallas College North Lake (21-10) in the title game 4 p.m. Saturday.
"We've been talking about this game since the start of the season when we first played Richland," Roman said after scoring 22 points in Herculean-like effort. "We know we could beat this team. At halftime, we just said … 'Let's play hard, let's play physical. We've got nothing to lose.' Man, I'm proud of these guys. We've been through a lot this season, fighting through a lot of injuries, with Brandon (Webber), one of our guys getting hurt last game. So it was hard, but I'm glad we adapted, and we were able to get through this game and finish with a win."
It was Brookhaven's first win over Richland in four meetings this season, and the Bears' first in the last five matchups between the two teams. The Bears' last win over the Thunderducks (20-9) came on the same floor in the second regular season game.
Roman scored 16 points in the second half, none bigger than the game-winning 3 – his lone triple of the night. Jovan Danner added 19 points. Both barely stepped off the court, being called on to play major minutes on the biggest stage of their two-year Brookhaven career.
"We knew we were coming into this game with not that many people, so we knew we were going to have to play heavy minutes," said Roman, last year's Dallas Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year. "But sacrifices, we were just going to push through. At the end of the day, we can't make excuses. This is what we signed up for. We battled through. It was just a mental thing."
Richland led by as many as 12 after Dre Rutledge scored in the last half-minute of the first half. The Thunderducks took a 30-20 lead into halftime. After the break, Richland went 5:36 without a field goal until Rutledge drove through the paint and scored. That gave the Thunderducks a seven-point lead. Andrew Huntley's bucket on an inbounds pass underneath the basket put Richland ahead 39-30.
Brookhaven used a 7-2 run, finished off on a basket by Roman as the Bears cut it to four. Jase Tarver, who finished with 18 points, scored off-glass with 4:33 remaining to keep Richland ahead 47-41. Surrounded by three Thunderducks defenders, changed hands in air, scored and was fouled. He sank the free throw to pull the Bears within three. Following a Richland turnover, Danner dashed down the left side of the paint, recollecting his dribble along the way, switched hands from his left to right and somehow coaxed in a shot to fall high off the window with 41 seconds to play to make it a one-point game.
Huntley split a pair from the free throw line with 5.8 seconds on the clock to put Richland up 50-48.
That set the stage for Roman to play the hero.
"I feel like that's every kid's dream to hit a buzzer beater or just a clutch shot at the end of the game," Roman said, sporting a smile. "Start of the second half, I just knew I was going to have to turn it up a bit. Fought through injury, but I just had a feeling, 'Give me the ball,' and I was going to hit the shot. I felt like in the second half I was flowing. I just had a feeling I was going to hit the shot. Thank God I made it."