Page’s Marsharee Neely makes CIT all tournament‏ and leads ODU to the title

Marsharee Neely made the CIT All Tournament team and led Old Dominion to the championship last night in Peoria and I just happened to catch the game on 1530AM out of Cincinnati.

I was coming out of Dudley HS after taking in the Dudley-WG baseball game and I flipped on the radio to the far right on the AM dial to reach out for 1530 Homer out of Cincinnati, Ohio and here was Frank Santore the former UNCG women’s basketball play-by-play man and he’s calling the CollegeInsider.com Tournament championship game from Peoria, Illinois.

I also start hearing Gary Ross formerly of Oldies 93.1 and now with Majic 94.1 and he is doing the commercials for this game. Gary “The Boss” Ross and Frank Santore and the best part was that the Old Dominion Monarchs were in the title game and they won the first-ever CIT Title and Marsharee Neely a guard from Page High School was out there running the point for the Monarchs and Neely pumps in 16 points and leads ODU to their first Championship Title in the Monarchs 85-year history.

Marsharee Neely and the Monarchs are the MEN and ODU has the trophy in their hand this morning. What a great way to close out the season for the Old Dominion Monarchs and the former Page Pirate Marsharee Neely. I was just talking to Grimsley basketball coach Darren Corbett on Monday and was telling him wouldn’t it be something special if Keith Manley could join Marsharee and become a Monarch and Coach Corbett, a former Page assistant said, “you never know”.

We do know this and it’s a fact, Marsharee Neely and the ODU Monarchs have a Title and here’s the full story:

PEORIA, Ill. (AP)– Frank Hassell, playing with a stress fracture in his right leg, had 18 points and a career high 15 rebounds to lead Old Dominion to a 66-62 win over Bradley for the title of the inaugural CollegeInsider.com tournament on Tuesday night in front of 8,118 at Carver Arena. ODU finished the season 8-6 on the road.

Marsharee Neely(Page HS) added 16 points for Old Dominion (25-10), of the Colonial Athletic Association, which held off a late surge by Bradley (21-15). Gerald Lee had 13 points.

The Monarchs were ahead 48-37 midway through the second half when Bradley, of the Missouri Valley, fought back to 57-55 on Sam Singh’s jumper with 1:25 left. But the Braves couldn’t get closer.

“I feel kind of bad for Bradley. They played a great game,” said Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor. “But we won it, and we ain’t giving it back.”

Old Dominion trailed by nine points in the first half before Hassell’s eight points and 10 rebounds helped spark a comeback. The teams were tied at 28 at halftime.

“A lot of teams would have taken a knockout punch, the way we fell behind early on,” Taylor said. “They had a great crowd here tonight and, boy, did they come ready to play. But I’m proud of this young bunch and how they played under pressure.”

Chris Roberts led Bradley with 15 points. Sam Maniscalco had 12 points and Theron Wilson added 11 for the Braves.

Bradley coach Jim Les said he knew his young team was in for a tough game against a bigger, stronger opponent. Old Dominion outrebounded Bradley 42-35, with several key offensive rebounds late in the game.

“We respected who they are. They turned out to be just a little bit bigger and tougher and they came up with the second-half points when they needed them,” Les said. “They really grabbed some boards and had some dead-on putbacks late in the game.”

Taylor said Hassell’s, the championship game’s most valuable player, played much of the second half of the season with the stress fracture. He played Tuesday’s game with a light cast on his lower calf and ankle.

“I’m just so glad we won,” Hassell said. “It’s the first tournament championship I’ve ever won. Ever. What a great team and what a great coach.” Hassell got his third straight double-double tonight, his fourth of the season, and fifth of his career. Hassell hauled down nine offensive rebounds.

Joining Hassell on the all-tournament squad were fellow teammates Marsharee Neely and Gerald Lee.

The 16 points by Marsharee Neely was his second highest of this season. He scored 20 earlier this year against UNC Wilmington. Ben Finney, who ranks in the top five of the CAA in steals came up with two more along with two blocked shots.

The Monarchs finished the season winning 14 of their last 16 games. The win was the 25th of the year and the fourth time in five years a Blaine Taylor ODU squad has won 24 or more games.

ODU’s lone senior Jonathan Adams played in his 135th career game which is a new ODU mark, breaking Brian Henderson’s 134 of a year ago.