Barry University was one win away from a trip to the Division II Elite Eight on Tuesday night, but standing in the way was an Eckard team that had beaten the Bucs by 25 points just nine days earlier.
But this time, Barry, featuring Columbus North graduates Sawyer and Kooper Glick, was on top of its game. The Bucs beat Eckard 79-72 to advance to the Elite Eight, which begins Tuesday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
“We knew going into it that this was our fourth time playing Eckard, and they had just beat us in the conference championship,” Sawyer Glick said. “For us to win that game, that meant the world to us. We knew that if we played hard, it was our game to lose.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Sawyer scored nine points. Kooper had five points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
“Eckard beat us in the conference championship by a lot, and he felt embarrassed,” Sawyer said. “He felt like he needed to come out and play angry. He felt like he needed to attack the basket and get other players involved.”
Three of Kooper’s five points came with the game on the line. With the game tied at 72-72, Kooper converted a three-point play with 1:07 remaining to give Barry the lead.
From there, the Bucs put the game away at the free-throw line.
“(Kooper) saw an opening,” Sawyer said. “The game was tight, and the play just happened for him. He was able to get that ball to go in, and that was a game-changing play for us. It was big momentum-wise for us to go up.”
Barry beat Eckard by four points on the road and by two at home during the regular season. The 25-point loss came in the finals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament.
Tuesday’s South Regional final went much differently.
“Eckard is a really good team,” Sawyer said. “I don’t know if there was a whole lot Xs and Os that we did different. Our players played more with a sense of urgency this time. Our coaches said, ‘The game is going to be won on the glass,’ and we really tried to take that to heart because that’s what’s going to win us the game against a tough team like Eckard.”
Although both Glicks are juniors, Sawyer is two years older. The 2013 North graduate went to prep school for a year, then took a medical redshirt year before playing the 2015-16 season at Division II Spring Hill (Alabama), where he was Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-SIAC.
Kooper, a 2015 North grad, helped lead Rock Valley (Illinois) to an NJCAA Division III national championship the next year. After that, he and Sawyer transferred to the Miami-based Barry.
Sawyer is the Bucs’ second-leading scorer with 14.3 points a game. He shoots 40 percent from 3-point range and 81 percent from the free-throw line.
“The coaches and my teammates have put me in a good spot to shoot the ball and get plays for me. Our motto is to play hard, and we try our best to do that.”
Kooper averages 5.8 points off the bench. He is shooting 48 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free-throw line.
The Bucs are in the Elite Eight for just the second time in school history. The first came two years ago, the year before the Glicks arrived. Last year, they lost in Round of 32 at Alabama-Huntsville.
Barry, which pulled off three consecutive upsets to win the regional, will need three more to win the national title. The eighth-seeded Bucs play top-seed Ferris State at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
But Barry has faced adversity all season. The Bucs were off for two weeks in the preseason because of Hurricane Irma.
“I think it put us back a little bit, but our coaches and our captains have done a good job of preparing us for every game,” Sawyer said. “There were still enough time to get enough practices in and get acclimated to each other, so I don’t think it affected us too much in the long run.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”The Glicks” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Name: Sawyer Glick
High school: Columbus North
College: Barry
Height: 6-foot-5
Year: Junior
Position: Guard
Key stats: 14.3 ppg, 40 percent 3-point shooting, 81 percent free-throw shooting
Name: Kooper Glick
High school: Columbus North
College: Barry
Height: 6-foot-3
Year: Junior
Position: Guard
Key stats: 5.8 ppg, 48 percent field-goal shooting, 90 percent free-throw shooting
[sc:pullout-text-end]
