MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Mount St. Mary's coach Jamion Christian was confident heading into the NEC Championship game Tuesday night.
"I knew after we beat Wagner that we were going to win," Christian said.
Even though Robert Morris was undefeated in NEC title games at Sewall Center and the Colonials have dominated the Mountaineers in recent memory, Christian thought his team was going to come out on top.
That's because the Mount's trio of senior guards (Rashad Whack, Julian Norfleet and Sam Prescott) had the second-year coach believing in an upset.
"They were excited that we were able to beat Wagner. But each of these guys was really calm. And they said, 'Hey, we have unfinished business,'" Christian said. "Their calmness in the last two days has really been special. You can tell that they were locked in."
It was largely because of those three that the Mount was in the championship game to begin with. And it was because of them that the Mountaineers ended Tuesday night cutting down the nets.
Whack, Norfleet and Prescott combined for 52 of the Mount's 88 points and all three were named to the All-NEC Tournament team. Whack was the most impressive in the three tournament games, leading to him earning tournament MVP honors.
"With the togetherness of our team, it made our job a lot easier," Whack said. "I don't want to say it was an individual thing for me, it was more of a team thing."
If it wasn't for Whack, Mount St. Mary's may not have even made it past the first round. After trailing by 19 points in the second half, Whack capped the Mount's improbable comeback with a game-winning 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to beat St. Francis Brooklyn 72-71. He also scored a game-high 28 points.
Whack then led the Mountaineers with 21 points in the semifinal win over Wagner before scoring a team-high 20 against Robert Morris Tuesday.
Now, the 6-foot-3 guard, who transferred from George Mason University before playing the past two seasons with the Mountaineers, will be leading them to an NCAA tournament game.
"It means a lot just to get this second chance, this second opportunity to play college basketball," Whack said. "Just how the coaching staff, how the community, how the fans have all embraced me, I'm just happy and blessed to be able to go out there and play with a great group of guys and win a championship."
Whack isn't the only one of Mount's three seniors to not begin his career with the Mountaineers. Prescott transferred from Marist and joined Whack on the court during games at the beginning of the 2012-13 season. Prescott scored nine, 16 and 15 points in the three NEC tourney games, and he has been a big part of the Mount's resurgence the past two seasons.
"It's been an interesting road," Prescott said. "Every day we challenge ourselves to be better and this is the result of it."
Norfleet has been with the Mountaineers his entire collegiate career and has been through ups and downs with the Mount the past four seasons. He went from losing 21 games in both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons to being in the NEC tournament finals the past two.
Last year, the Mountaineers weren't able to cap their run with a championship, losing on the road to LIU-Brooklyn. This time ended quite differently, as he got hot early, scored 17 points and won a title.
"It's just a credit to this program, where it's come from," Norfleet said. "To see it grow so fast and to win a championship just means everything."
Mount St. Mary's likely is headed towards a first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament to earn a No. 16 seed in the tournament. A win there would then likely match up the Mountaineers against one of the top teams in the country.
It'll be tough for the Mount, which means Christian will likely rely heavily on his experienced trio.
"Not many teams have three senior guards like we have," Christian said.
And Christian added that the great jobs Whack, Norfleet and Prescott have done all season has paid off to this point in the season.
"To win a championship or win 16 games in college basketball, that's not going to happen every year," Christian said. "But when you have three great leaders, you really have to put them in the forefront and allow them to do that. I've tried to do that all year long and I think we're really starting to see the benefits of it at the end of the season."
