Yellow Jackets return to Ashland with NCAA Division III crown
Fred Jeter | 3/24/2022, 6 p.m.
The Randolph-Macon College men were nearly perfect in adding their name to the of Virginia’s NCAA basketball champions.
Coach Josh Merkel’s Yellow Jackets defeated Elmhurst University of Illinois 75-45 in the March 19 final of the NCAA Division III Tournament in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The 30-point margin was the largest in the history of the Division III final dating to 1975.
The Ashland school finished 33-1 with 27 straight wins. The lone blemish was a 77-76 overtime loss to Christopher Newport University on Nov. 20.
R-MC has won 50 of its last 51 outings dating to 2019-20. The school opted out of hoops last year.
Stars included Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year and NCAA Most Outstanding Player Buzz Anthony, a senior from Maryland, and junior All-ODAC and All-NCAA Tournament Miles Mallory, also from Maryland.
The 6-foot-5 Mallory blocked 90 shots this season to raise his career total to 189. Both are school records.
This wasn’t the Yellow Jackets’ first rodeo. R-MC went to the NCAA Division II finals in 1977, losing to University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
