Anderson returns to D3 tourney with HCAC title

Feb. 24—ANDERSON — When the chips are down and the game may be hanging in the balance, its comforting for a coach to have an ace in his hand.

For Anderson University men's basketball coach Carter Collins, that ace is the reigning Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference player of the year, and the pot turned out to be the conference's automatic bid in the NCAA D-III tournament.

Tate Ivanyo enjoyed a perfect first half shooting the ball, scoring all 17 of his points before halftime, and his teammates continued their torrid shooting in the second half as the Ravens pulled away for a 90-73 win over Hanover, claiming their second consecutive HCAC tournament championship.

As a result, Anderson (23-4) earned a return trip to the national tournament with the bracket to be revealed Monday at 1 p.m.

A slow start Friday made for a game-long battle in the semifinal win over Manchester. But Anderson brought the momentum from that victory into Saturday, and the outcome was rarely in doubt.

"We ended up righting the ship last night, so even though it wasn't a great start for us, we were coming into this game with some momentum," Collins said. "We pushed the pace, we shared the ball really well and I'm happy with the effort. The defense was solid, but the offense really brought us home tonight."

It was Ivanyo who set the tone for the Ravens early and went on a solo tour of the 3-point line to get his team the early separation it needed.

After a layup by Anderson's Bryson Williams staked the Ravens to an early 10-2 lead, the Panthers battled back. They chipped away until they took their first — and only — lead at 21-19 on a 3-point basket from Ty Houston just after the 11:17 media timeout.

That was when Ivanyo went to work.

He answered the Houston score with a 3-pointer of his own and, after a Hanover miss, delivered another deep three from about 26 feet. Three possessions later, he drove to the basket for two points and was fouled at the 7:48 mark. He made the free throw and made another 3-point shot on the next trip down court, capping a personal 12-0 run and reversing a two-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

For the half, Ivanyo was 6-for-6 from the floor — including 4-for-4 from 3-point range — and was 1-for-1 from the free-throw line, having catapulted his team toward a 42-33 halftime advantage.

"I don't think I've ever done that before, but it felt real good," Ivanyo said.

"He's a special player," Collins said. "He's one of the best players in the country at our level, honestly. He's our hardest worker, scored 1,000 points, still just a junior, great in the classroom. There's only so many hyperboles you can use about him. He's one in a million. I could coach another 50 years and not get another Tate."

While he did not score in the second half, Ivanyo had plenty of help, and it started — and nearly ended — with sophomore Kenney Troutman.

The 6-foot guard from Ben Davis missed a 3-point attempt on the team's first possession out of the locker room but calmly delivered 3-pointers on the next two trips for a 48-35 lead.

Troutman's efforts began a second-half barrage from the 3-point line for Anderson. After making six of 11 in the first half as a team, it launched 23 second-half attempts and made 10.

On the brink of putting the game away, Troutman lined up a 3-pointer that increased the lead to 70-52 and started a 12-2 run that included two more Troutman threes before fellow sophomore Bryson Huckeby made one of his own, and in a matter of moments, the Ravens held a 79-54 lead, prompting many Hanover fans to head for the exits while Panthers coach Jon Miller burned a timeout.

Huckeby said the team remembered nearly squandering a big lead against the same Hanover club earlier in the season.

"We knew that if we didn't make a few big-time baskets, they could come back and make it a ballgame," he said. "We needed to have guys step up, and what better guy than Kenney? He's kind of stayed in the shadows the whole year, but he's been in the starting lineup all year. He's passing up shots for everyone else, but he took his shots (Saturday) and hit a lot of them."

Ivanyo was named the tournament's most outstanding player and led six Ravens in double figures. Fellow all-tournament player Cam Smith matched Ivanyo with 17 points. Troutman finished with 15, Huckeby and Williams with 13 points each and Elijah Mattingly with 11 points.

Mattingly and Ivanyo also shared team rebounding honors with eight boards.

"Everybody on this team makes big contributions. It's a total team effort," Ivanyo said. "I couldn't do it without them. It's everybody."

Hanover (18-10) was led by Max Greenamoyer with 23 points, Houston with 18, Coleman Sater with 11 and Avery Saunders with 10 points.

The Ravens look forward to a return to the NCAA tournament and, while not expecting to host a first-round game, do expect a higher seeding than they received a year ago when they were knocked out by third-ranked Mount Union in the first round.

"The D3 gurus tell us we'll get shipped out somewhere. We'll find that out Monday," Collins said. "We're definitely feeling confident right now that we can stick with anybody."

"We have unfinished business," Huckeby said. "We don't get a lot of respect nationally, and I hope we can prove some people wrong."

All tournament games are held at campus sites until the field is narrowed to the final four, when the scene shifts to Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.

Contact Rob Hunt at rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.