By RENALDO DORSETT
Sports Reporter
rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
With the game tied and a conference championship on the line, senior guard Girbran Smith’s late game heroics lifted his Gannon Golden Knights to a conference title and a berth in the Men’s NCAA Division II Tournament.
Smith made a three pointer from the left wing with just two seconds left to play to give the Knights a 69-66 win and the 2015 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship over no.20 ranked Indiana (PA) Sunday afternoon.
Smith finished with a game high 27 points and four rebounds.
He shot 9-15 from the field and 5-8 from beyond the arch.
Smith, a former star at St. John’s College, said the progression from his early basketball career to his latest triumph has been a testament to hard work.
“I remember going from missing a wide open layup in BAISS Junior Boys to hitting a game winner in a championship game,” he said, “It just goes to show you what hard work can do for you.”
The win gave the Golden Knights their eight consecutive win and they now enter the tournament as one of the hottest teams in division two with wins in 12 of their last 13 games.
Gannon will enter the Atlantic Regional section of the bracket as a no.2 seed and a 23-8 record over the course of the season.
They will face the region’s no.7 seed, Slippery Rock, in the first round, Saturday March 14 at 2:30pm.
Smith, a Communication Arts major scheduled to graduate in December, led the Golden Knights in scoring at 14.7 points per game.
He was one of three players to start all 31 games and finished second on the team with 32 minutes played per game.
He shot 45 per cent from the field, 44 per cent from three point range averaged, 82 per cent from the line and grabbed 4.5 rebounds per game.
As a junior, and in his first season with the Golden Knights, he appeared in 23 with 17 starts.
He was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court, awarded to players with a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher.
Smith started the final 17 games of the season and reached double digits in scoring during his first four career starts.
He tied his season-high with 18 points and four rebounds during a 66-64 victory against Charleston in the NCAA Division II Tournament first round.
Prior to his transfer to Gannon, he attended Kankakee Community College where he averaged 14.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals as a sophomore.
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