California "Banks" the top seed in NCAA regional tournament with PSAC championship victory over Edinboro By Gorden Blain CHEYNEY, Pa. -- Ron Banks is at least 10 years older than most of his California University teammates and opponents.
But the Vulcans’ 6-foot-5, 31-year old power forward from Lansing, Michigan is hardly out of place. No doubt he fits right in.
Banks earned Most Valuable Player of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament as the Vulcans defeated Edinboro 73-65 in the championship game Saturday night at Cheyney University’s Cope Hall.
Banks scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds in the win over Edinboro that gave the Vulcans their first conference championship since 1999 and paved the way for them to host the eight-team NCAA Division II East Regional which begins Saturday March 15. In Cal’s 66-59 semifinal win over Cheyney on Friday, Banks scored 12 points.
“He’s been a special player for us,” said California coach Bill Brown.
The Vulcans finished the first half strong to take a 34-26 lead and were in a great position to finish off the Scots when they took their largest lead of the game at 57-42 with just over five minutes left in the game.
But Edinboro’s full court press gave the Vulcans trouble and fueled a furious rally to trim Cal’s lead to 63-61 with just under two minutes left in the game. The Vulcans answered the challenge just in time by sinking free throws.
“We let them back in the game,” said Banks. “But we sustained our composure down the stretch. We just wanted it a lot more than they did. I thought we were a little more hungry.”
In the quarterfinal matchups, top-seeded California (25-5) will face eight-seeded Queens, North Carolina (21-9), Edinboro (24-6), the three seed, will face six seed Millersville (20-9), No. 5 Cheyney (19-9) will open against Alderson-Broaddus (25-6) and No. 7 Pitt-Johnstown (22-7) will face No. 2 Mount Olive (24-6).
The winner of the Cal-Queens game will face the winner of the Alderson-Broaddus-Cheyney game in one of two semifinals on Sunday March 16. The regional final is Tuesday March 18.
The eight regional champions advance to the Division II Elite Eight National Championship tournament at MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts March 26, 27 and 28. The East regional champion will face the West regional champion in the national quarterfinals.
“I think for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, it was a good championship game,” Brown said. “I thought we got the ball inside and did a good job rebounding. Most importantly, the guys played defense.”
Senior James Hairston scored 18 points and junior Julian Logan had 12 for the Vulcans. Junior Joe Jones led Edinboro with 19 points. Larry Bryant had 14 and Ryan McLemore had 12 for the Scots.
Ironically, the oldest player on the court logged the most minutes for the Vulcans, playing 35 of the 40 minutes.
“I lost 15 pounds to try to be in the best shape I can be coming into the season,“ said Banks. “(My younger teammates) bring a lot of life into it for me.”
Brown leads the Scots in scoring with a 15.1 points per game average and is the second leading rebounded with 6.7 rebounds per game.
“It’s great having him,” said Hairston. “Having him is more experience for us. He’s been through all of this before. He gets us focused on and off the court on basketball and school work.”
Banks, who was raising a family and had returned to college and playing basketball at Lansing Community College when Brown discovered him and invited him to complete his career at Cal, has offered a steady hand for his younger teammates and together they have exceeded all expectations.
“I think they surpassed my expectations,” Brown said. “We graduated four starters, three who were all-conference. This is not my most talented team. But they sacrificed, accepted their roles and exceeded all expectations. Most importantly, all five seniors are scheduled to graduate. I’m hoping the best is yet to come.”
