UNIONTOWN, PA - DeJaun Owens scored 30,
Dominic Douglas scored 27, and
Jonathan Pozo scored 12 as Villa's three seniors combined for 69 points in season-finale victory over top-seeded Berkeley College (NY) on Tuesday morning in the consolation bracket of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) National Tournament on the campus of Penn State Fayette.
In the seniors' final game, the Vikings responded to adversity and closed the season with the program's first win over Berkeley, the four-time defending National Champions. After both teams suffered unfortunate upset defeats in the Elite 8, the Villa Maria program, completing just it's fourth season, decided to respond positively and continue to build upon what is an already successful and national-contending program.
"It was tough not being able to reach our goal, but these are the types of experiences that our kids will grow from," Vikings Head Coach
Don Silveri said. "This will not only help our players moving forward on the court, but it will provide valuable life lessons off it as well. We came out today and really played as a team and decided we were going to rally together and send our seniors out in style. For the guys coming back, we proved we can handle adversity and it's something they can bring into the offseason. This will make us even more hungry to reach success moving forward."
Villa outscored Berkeley 45-30 over the opening 20 minutes. For the game. the Vikings held the Knights to 32.2 percent shooting, more than 16 percent lower than their season average. Villa shot 42 percent from the floor and 47 percent from beyond the arc. Owens was 6-of-10 from three. Douglas finished with a double-double, adding 13 rebounds while also going a perfect 13-of-13 from the free throw line. Pozo added five assists to his 12 points and also had two blocks while holding Berkeley's leading scorer, and National Player of the Year, Ricardo Ayuso to just six points.
Freshman
Lonnie Taylor finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four assists in 29 minutes. The Vikings had 21 assists on 28 baskets.
Villa finishes the 2018-19 campaign with a 25-4 overall record, the second most wins in program history. They earned the second seed in the national tournament and were ranked first or second in every national poll during the season.
A full season recap will be made available in the coming days.
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