Senators win TCCAA/Region 7 Championship for eighth time in program history

GALLATIN, TN – Top-seeded Walters State overcame a seven-point halftime deficit in the TCCAA/Region 7 Championship against two-seeded Columbia State on Tuesday, and the Senators won their eighth title in program history with a 68-65 win.

With the victory, the Senators improved to 30-1 on the season and advanced to the NJCAA DI Basketball tournament for the 10th time in program history. 

Taquez Butler, the Region 7/TCCAA Tournament MVP, led the way in Tuesday's game for the Senators with 15 points and eight rebounds. For the tournament, Butler finished with 49 points, 12 3-pointers made and 16 rebounds. 

Along with Butler on Tuesday, Malaki Brooks hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 big points. Da'Mori Lytch scored 11 points and had five rebounds, and Tyrese Stovall scored 10 points and collected seven rebounds.

Other contributors for Walters State were Jamar Livingston with six points and three rebounds, Trae Rideau with five points, Jayden Nesbitt with four points, Brian Carter with two points, four rebounds and five assists, Jaquavious Wallace with two points and Carter Webb with two points. 

Columbia State came out with some fire, scoring the first five points of the game. Livingston made two free throws to get the Senators started, and Rideau followed with a bucket. Columbia made it 10-6 a few minutes later, but Lytch hit a 3-pointer. Stovall then scored four straight to get the Senators a 13-11 lead, but Columbia scored the next nine points to go up 20-13.

Butler broke the run with an and-one, and he hit a triple a minute later to cut it to 22-19. Columbia made a free throw after, but Brooks hit his first 3-pointer of the game to cut the lead to one. Unfortunately for the Senators, they could never retake the lead, and the Chargers scored the last four points of the half to go up 38-31 at the break. 

In the second half, the Senators made it a point of emphasis to get the ball to Butler early. Butler made a free throw to open up the half, and he hit a jumper 30 seconds later to make it 38-34. Columbia answered with a bucket, but Butler hit a three and Lytch scored in the lane to cut it to 40-39. 

The two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, and Columbia led 46-43 at the 13-minute mark. However, Lytch cut the Columbia lead to one with a thunderous posterizing dunk. Stovall then gave Walters State its first lead since the 13:42 mark of the first half, when he put a ball in to make it 47-46. 

Columbia scored the next five points to regain some control, but Brooks came alive with back-to-back 3-pointers that gave Walters State a 53-51 lead. Butler followed behind Brooks two minutes later, making a 3-pointer that hit every part of the rim before falling to increase the Senators lead to 56-51. A minute later, Brooks hit two free throws, and Butler and Webb scored back-to-back baskets with 4:09 left that made it 62-56.

Once again, Columbia would not go away, scoring five points to cut the lead to one with 2:13 to go. The Senators got the ball and gave it to Livingston, the only player on the team who played on the Senators championship team two years ago, and he took it to the rim and made a contested layup that made it 64-61. Columbia made a shot on the other end and got the ball back down one with a minute to go. But, Stovall got a steal on one end and a putback on the other end that made it 66-63 with 43 seconds to go. 

Columbia scored down low to get the lead back down to one, but Lytch made a free throw with 20 seconds left that made it 67-65. Columbia got the ball back and drove the baseline, but stepped out of bounds with 6.6 seconds left. Butler got the inbounds pass and was fouled, splitting a pair of free throws to make it 68-65. Columbia had one final chance, but a desperation 3-pointer was off.