The top-seeded Old Dominion Monarchs capitalized with their key players as they defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 73-66, in the championship game of the 2005 Colonial Athletic Association championship Monday night in front of 10,650 fans, a tournament record, at the Richmond Coliseum.
It was the CAA’s first overtime final and the Monarchs’ first title since 1997, when the Monarchs defeated James Madison, 62-58 in OT.
Despite all of the success ODU (28-5) had this season, it came down to one game against No. 2 VCU that would decide who was destined to continue play in the NCAA tournament.
“We have to do a good job on their three main guys: (Arnaud) Dahi, (Alex) Loughton, and (Isaiah) Hunter,” VCU head coach Jeff Capel said prior to the game.
It seemed the Rams were very successful in containing Monarchs’ sophomore forward Dahi, who finished the night with only two points. The story wasn’t so similar for their efforts on both junior forward Loughton, and junior guard Hunter.
“We had no answer for Loughton. He played like the player of the year,” said Capel. “He’s a really, really good player. Those who know me know I don’t throw the word great around, but he’s borderline great. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to help their team win.”
It was apparent that his game-high 28 points, along with 11 rebounds didn’t hurt the cause either. Loughton shot 12 for 19 from the floor and 4 for 6 from the free-throw line, unanimously earning the tournament’s Most Outstanding Performer award.
Virginia Commonwealth (19-12) didn’t make it easy for the Monarchs as it looked as if they had their second consecutive league championship in the bag when sophomore forward Jesse Pellot-Rosa connected while falling away on a three-pointer just as the shot clock expired to put the Rams up 55-52 with 2:28 to play.
The conference player of the year, Loughton, answered with a 3-point play on the other end tying the game at 55-55, giving the Monarchs their first points since VCU went on a 5-0 scoring run at the 5:17 mark of the second period.
After VCU turned the ball over, ODU had a chance to win the game in regulation, but the Monarchs’ Isaiah Hunter misfired on a three-point attempt with 0.8 seconds left on the clock.
Loughton scored the first four points of overtime to put ODU up 59-55. But the Rams senior center Derrick Reid cut the lead to two with a lay-up with 2:15 left in regulation.
VCU immediately went to the full-court press, but that didn’t phase the Monarchs as Loughton inbounded the ball with a baseball pass to half-court that found a sprinting Isaiah Hunter, who finish out the play with a big time slam dunk to further the Monarchs’ lead to 61-57 with 54.1 seconds remaining.
The Rams were forced to foul and send ODU to the line, hoping that they wouldn’t convert on their free throws. Unfortunately for VCU, the Monarchs combined and sank 8 of 8 attempts from the line to seal the victory, despite the Rams attempt to heighten the excitement and possibility of a comeback with three 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds of the game.
“They made their runs, we made our runs, they just made a bigger run than us in the end,” said VCU senior forward Michael Doles, who finished with 11 points. Other Rams in double digits were sophomore guard B.A. Walker with 14 points, along with two of the all-tournament team selections, junior forward Nick George with 11 points and sophomore guard Jesse Pellot-Rosa with a team high 15 points.