(March 29) -- EVANSVILLE, Ind.  – For the second year in a row, the NCAA Division II championship game went down to the wire and after suffering heartbreak last season, Nova Southeastern came away with the win this time around as it held off Cal State Dominguez Hills 74-73 to capture its second national title in the last three years.

MJ Iraldi, named as the most outstanding player of the tournament, hit two free throws with 25.4 seconds remaining to give the Sharks (36-1) the lead after CSUDH’s David Cheatom had put the Toros (30-6) in front with a fallaway jumper with 40.3 seconds remaining.  Cheatom had the last chance to win the game in the final seconds, but his runner in the lane rolled off the rim.

The first half saw Nova Southeastern jump out to an eight-point lead in the first five minutes of play, but the Toros clawed their way back into the contest and take as much as a five-point advantage of its own.  Cal State Dominguez Hills closed the first half with a four-point lead of 42-38 following a Jeremy Dent-Smith three-pointer with 28 seconds to play in the half.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair, with seven ties and seven lead changes over the final 20 minutes.

Iraldi had 27 points to lead the Sharks and was joined on the all-tournament team by Dallas Graziani, who finished with 13 points and nine assists. Dent-Smith led the Toros with 27 points as part of a 79-point effort in the tournament; he was on the all-tournament team as well as Cheatom and DBU’s Ricky Lujon.

Semifinal #1 -- Cal State Dominguez Hills 94, DBU 83 (OT)

The first semifinal contest of the night was a thriller, as Cal State Dominguez Hills overcame a 19-point deficit to take the lead in the second half, tied the game with a three-pointer by Alex Garcia with 2.8 seconds remaining and dominated the overtime to reach the championship game for the first time in program history.

The Toros went on a 22-6 run in the second half, only to see DBU rally back and take the lead on a three-pointer by Cody Stevens with 7.7 seconds to go. However, the Toros came back down the floor and Garcia drained the game-tying three to force overtime, sparking a 10-0 run to begin the extra period to take control.

Jeremy Dent-Smith scored a season-high 33 points to lead CSU Dominguez Hills, while DBU got 23 points from Trevor Frank and 22 from Ricky Lujan as it finished the year at 33-5.

Semifinal #2 -- Nova Southeastern 94, Washburn 68

Nova Southeastern jumped out to a double-figure lead in the early minutes and cruised to its 16th win in its last 17 NCAA Tournament games, earning its third straight trip to the title contest. The Sharks shot 57.6 percent in the first half and connected seven times from three-point range to take a 53-29 lead to the locker room.

Ryker Cisarik scored 28 points and national player of the year MJ Iraldi dropped in 22 to pace Nova Southeastern while Jacob Hanna finished with 15 to lead the Ichabods, who were making their first NCAA semifinal appearance since 2001.

Quarterfinal #1 -- DBU 98, Lake Superior State 85

Lake Superior State held a one-point lead at the intermission, but the third-seeded Patriots took control early in the second half and held off a late Laker surge to advance to their first semifinal contest.

DBU outscored the Lakers 25-10 to open the second half and led by as much as 15 five minutes into the second half, but behind the scoring of Devin Womack and Tyson Edmondson, LSSU rallied back and had the margin down to three with under seven minutes remaining, but a quick 12-3 surge by the Patriots extended the lead back to a dozen.

DBU's Ricky Lujan led all scorers with 27 points, while Womack had 20 and Edmondson 17 for the Lakers.

Quarterfinal #2 -- Cal State Dominguez Hills 86, West Liberty 84

Trailing by 17 with less than three minutes gone in the second half, Cal State Dominguez Hills went on an 18-0 run and never trailed again as it eliminated the second-seeded Hilltoppers.

With the score tied at 82, DJ Guest put the Toros on top with 1:54 to go and Alex Garcia extended the lead to four with a jumper with 24 seconds to go. West Liberty cut the lead in half, but missed a shot from just inside of half court as the buzzer sounded.

David Cheatom led the Toros to their first national semifinal with 22 points, while Kyler D'Augustino had 23 points for West Liberty.

Quarterfinal #3 -- Nova Southeastern 102, Assumption 93

Nova Southeastern, the top seed in the Elite Eight, ran out to a 25-point lead early in the second half but had to hold off a hot-shooting Assumption team in the second half to return to the national semifinals for the third consecutive year.

The Sharks led 56-36 at the intermission and pushed that lead to 25 before the Greyhounds -- who shot 57.9 percent in the second half and connected seven times from three-point range -- made a 16-2 surge to cut the margin to eight nearly midway through the second half. With four players scoring at least 20 points, paced by Tyler Eberhart's 24, Nova Southeastern was able to extend its lead to a more comfortable margin down the stretch.

MJ Iraldi and Dallas Graziani added 22 points apiece and Ryker Cisarik had 20 for the Sharks in what was the second game in NCAA Division II Tournament history where four players scored at least 20. Zamareon McCown led the Greyhounds with 21 points in defeat.

Quarterfinal #4 -- Washburn 90, Lenoir-Rhyne 78

Washburn got out to a hot start in both halves in the final quarterfinal matchup and advanced to the national semifinals for the first time since 2001. The Ichabods reached the 30-win mark for the second time in program history as they opened the contest by scoring 19 of the first 25 points, then extended a six-point halftime lead to 21 in the first six-plus minutes of the second half.

Brayden Shorter hit five of the Ichabods' 10 three-pointers to score a team-leading 18 points as five Washburn players reached double figures in the contest. Washburn shot better than 50 percent from the field in both halves and finsihed at 53.4 percent for the game.

Lenoir-Rhyne, making its first-ever Elite Eight appearance, was led by Junior Hodnell with 19 points.

On Thursday, DBU will face Cal State Dominguez Hills in the first semifinal, while the nightcap will feature Nova Southeastern and Washburn. Thursday's semifinals being shown live on ESPN Plus, while Saturday's championship game will be aired on CBS.