COLUMBUS – Just two days after the confetti reigned on The W’s men’s basketball team after it captured the first-ever St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in school history and with it the first-ever ticket to the NCAA Division III basketball tournament, the Owls continued their celebration on Monday and gathered at the Holland Hollow Student Center to hear their name called on selection day.

Still wearing their championship t-shirts and surrounded by school officials and members of other MUW athletic teams, the Owls sat together on a large couch with their eyes glued to the TV screen in front of them as they watched the NCAA’s unveiling of their bracket, just waiting to hear their name called.

Then the moment came. Cheers and applause from those in attendance erupted and the Owls themselves –  still riding high after besting No. 1-seeded Webster University on its home court for the conference crown – couldn’t help but smile at the season they’ve had – and the opportunity to continue it. The W (17-10) is set to play at Emory University (22-3), the University Athletic Association champion, in Atlanta on Friday.

“Being the first group to accomplish this feat – our roster at the beginning of the year didn’t look like this either – but we knew that we had an opportunity to go and create history,” he said. “Something that we talked about all year was, ‘Authoring their story,’ and their individual stories and their collective stories are one that I wanted the nation to know about. To be the first to come from here as a men’s basketball program means a lot to author that.”

The latest and greatest chapter in the Owl’s storybook season was earned in the waning moments of Saturday’s championship game. The W let loose its grip on a 10-point lead with 3:18 left to play as the Gorloks rattled off nine straight points to close the gap in crunch time. Star forward Tray Huguley banked in a layup with 1:06 left to stop the bleeding but the Gorloks responded with a shot from downtown by Charles Nelson to tie the game at 74-74 with 47 seconds left.

Coming out of a timeout, Tyler Shephard put up a 3-pointer that clanked off the rim, but he raced back in the paint and snagged his own miss off the glass and passed to senior Trent Walker, who cashed in the extra possession with a layup and was fouled in the process. Feeling confident in a clutch moment, Walker was sent to the stripe with an opportunity to put the Owls up by three.

“I’ve been in those situations plenty of times,” Walker said of his game-winning free throw. “In high school I played in plenty of hostile environments, in (junior college) I played in plenty of hostile environments and even here, so I felt like I’ve been in those positions plenty of times so I was confident.”

His confidence turned into points as he drilled the shot, and the Owls braced a layup by the Gorloks and held on for the win.

A season of firsts

“It (still) doesn’t seem real,” said Huguley, who led the team with 26 points and 13 rebounds against Webster. “As a kid I always dreamed of moments like this.” 

It’s been a season of firsts for the Owls: First conference championship, first conference tournament win, first selection day, first time an Owl has been named SLIAC Player of the Year (Tray Huguley). Joe Haze Austin recorded the program’s first-ever triple-double in the same game Huguley set the program’s single-game scoring record with 51 points, and the team did it all with only nine players on its roster.

“The last few games, me and Trent talked and we were going to give it our all no matter what, which should be every game, but it’s a different feeling when you get this far,” said Austin, who was named the SLIAC Defensive Player of the Year. “So (we have) some extra motor, some extra kick-in drive and we decided to do that and we are going to keep doing that.”

Now with the first conference championship in hand, it’s back to practice and back to enjoying the opportunity to still be dancing. A “really good club” awaits the Owls in the first round of the tournament on Friday and there’s much for Burrows and crew to prepare for.

“There’s a reason they host year-in and year-out because they are always there. The UAA is arguably the best league in the country. … We didn’t care (who we were paired to play), just go toss us the ball and let’s go play. They have to play us too and I’m looking forward to my staff and I diving into them a little bit.”

Austin said he’s just excited to be with his teammates for one more game.

“(We have) two seniors on the team who get an extra game and hopefully more than that,” he said. “I feel good for them (because) they get more games with us and get more experience.”