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SYRACUSE-A season that began with a school record nine-game win streak came to its conclusion as The College of Saint Rose came up a possession short with today's 69-66 setback to Saint Thomas Aquinas in the NCAA East Regional Championship Final on the Le Moyne College campus.
 
The second half featured five ties and two lead change although the game, which was delayed 19 hours due to the late winter snow storm, was played at a methodical pace with 46 fouls called.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of this group. I know they're disappointed. However, we won 26 games playing in a tough league and we made it to the Sweet 16," said head coach Brian Beaury. "This is a group I enjoyed being around. There wasn't one guy that didn't want to come to practice or look at film. They wanted to work hard, and they wanted to get better."
 
The Golden Knights (26-8) came back from an early 10 point deficit to put itself in position down the stretch, but the Spartans (28-5) went 7-for-7 from the foul line during the final 1:41 to grab the win.
 
Senior forward Tyler Sayre scored 18 of his team-high 26 points in the second half and senior forward Chris Dorgler stuffed the stat sheet as usual with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead Saint Rose.
 
The Golden Knights fell in arrears 12-2 in the opening three minutes and went in the locker room down 34-26 at the break. They then trailed by 11 in the first minute of the second stanza before embarking on a 23-7 jaunt that transformed a 39-28 deficit into a 51-46 advantage with 9:56 to play.
 
Four minutes later, Saint Thomas Aquinas (28-5) junior guard Shaquille McFarlan canned two from the stripe that deadlocked the game 56-56. The game was tied on two more occasions with the last time coming at the 1:41 mark when Spartans junior swing Justin Reyes completed a three-point play. Regardless, Saint Rose was still within a point, 67-66, after junior forward Jack Jones tipped-in a Dorgler missed 3-pointer with 18 seconds remaining.
 
However, the Golden Knights were whistled for a foul on the ensuing inbound play. Junior guard James Mitchell then converted both free throws for what proved to be the final margin.
 
Reyes, the two-time East Coast Conference Player of the Year, had 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead Saint Thomas Aquinas, which will face Northwest Missouri State in the opening round of the Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, S.D. one week from today.

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Notes: This was the Golden Knights 13th NCAA Tournament appearance throughout its 26 year NCAA tenure…Saint Rose made its fourth regional final appearance, first since 1999 when the Golden Knights upended Adelphi, 72-67, in double overtime at the University at Albany to advance to the Elite Eight…Sayre closed out his stellar career as the fourth all-time leading scorer in school annals with 1,825 points…The three-time Northeast-10 Conference All-League pick averaged 15.6 points throughout his time in a Golden Knights uniform…Sayre was also named to the All-Tournament team…He averaged 17.7 points and 6.0 rebounds throughout the three games…Dorgler closed out his superlative career as one of only 30 player to reach the 1,000 point plateau (1,014)…This season marked head coach Brian Beaury's 17th, 20-win campaign…He now owns a 622-316 career record and is one of nine active NCAA Division II mentors that have accumulated 600 victories

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