The NCAA Division III is composed of colleges and universities who do not award athletic scholarships. In 1995 Manchester College won our Conference so we were eligible to continue as the automatic qualifier in the national Division III tournament. Our first game was against the Ripon College Red Hawks of Wisconsin. Manchester won this game and so went on to play Hanover, also from the ICAC, with high regional ranking. Manchester won the game against Hanover. This win sent Manchester to the sectionals played at Illinois Weslyian. 1. In the first game, Manchester beat Kenyon, from Ohio. 2. Manchester played Illinois Weslyian and beat them too. This win sent Manchester on to Buffalo, NY (refer to the Black and Gold publication) as one of the final four teams. 1. Manchester played Rowan, New Jersey and won. 2. We then played Wisconsin - Platteville for the championship. The Manchester College Basketball Team lost in the final game of the NCAA National Division III Tournament,1995. This was the first loss Manchester had all year. Manchester finished 31 and 1 for the season...the only loss being the final game against Platteville for the championship. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The story of the year prior to1995 - For Footage See the Illinois Weslyian video in the collection of the Archives. Here is the story as remembered by Rob Gratz: Our 1994 Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC) champs were hosting Illinois Wesleyan U. in the NCAA Division 3 tournament. Even though extra bleachers were added at both ends of the court and even upstairs in the southwest corner, there were not going to be enough tickets. They went on sale earlier in the week – first come, first served. Somebody from Timbercrest showed up early and bought handfuls for his friends. I arrived too late and didn’t get a ticket. The day before the game, athletic director Tom Jarman found out, and, since I was the chair of the athletic committee, got me tickets from his supply. The game was very exciting. My seat was at the end of the east bleachers, almost in line with the basket. At the end of the game, with the scored tied 77-77, an IWU player got the ball in the corner, right down in front of us, with about a second remaining. The crowd noise was terrific, and he shot at about the same time as the buzzer sounded. It went in and all was bedlam. The IWU fans in our area were sure the ball left his hand before the buzzer. We were just as sure the buzzer came first. The referees ruled that it would count and IWU wins. Their players, of course, were celebrating. One of them not too wisely raised his arms and ran around the other end of the court, taunting the guys with no shirts. Reports were that he was punched by one of our students. Their coach was mad. The NCAA wanted a report. Subsequent replay of the video from (I believe) Ft. Wayne television news showed what really happened. One of the shirt-less guys in the 2nd or 3rd row pushed a guy in first row out onto the floor, colliding with the IWU player. The next year (1995), we travelled to IWU and beat them on their court, earning the trip to Buffalo for the final two games. | 
