MONDAY
April 17, 2017 Special Section
www.therambler.org
Infographic by Alex Gudac On March 21, the menâs basketball team won its first national title since 2006. The Rams beat Life Universityâs Runninâ Eagles by a score of 86-76 at Kansas Cityâs Municipal Auditorium.
The champsâ road to domination Matt Smith
mxsmith@txwes.edu
The road to success is a hard one, with ups and downs, twists and turns, dead ends and pitfalls. For Texas Wesleyanâs menâs basketball team, the road to a national championship began in earnest on Halloween 2016, and an easy 10179 win over Dallas Christian College. âIt was a fun first game,â said junior guard Ryan Harris. âThe first game was full of energy, we were all excited to play, I was excited to play â I was a little nervous but all the nervousness went away as soon as I touched the ball. I felt the energy from the crowds, our coaches were into it â it was exciting.â That easy win would serve as a preview of things to come. After the DCC win, the Rams would rack up six consecutive wins until they lost two in a row, first to Wiley College (70-61) on Nov. 28, and then, three days later, to Mid-
America Christian University (91-90). Two losses in a row are never good, but the Rams kept pushing. â[The two losses in a row] didnât affect us because we bounced back,â said Harris, one of the teamâs top three scorers. âYou had to win some and you had to lose some. If you lose one, itâs how you respond to that what makes you great. You just had to practice hard and be better in the next game.â After that hiccup, the Rams went on to win 16 and lose only five before claiming the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season title in late February; their 23-7 record included six blowouts. Wesleyan topped the SACâs conference standings in late January and never looked back; winning the conference came with automatic placement in the SAC tournament. The Rams were ecstatic to win the conference but, Harris said, they were driven to accomplish more. âWhen we found out we won â at that mo-
ment, it was like, âWow,ââ Harris said. âMe personally, Iâm finally a part of a winning organization. But, I felt like â at that moment â I wanted more. I wasnât just satisfied with the conference. I want to win the conference tournament. I want to win the nationals. We all enjoyed the moment, but at the same time, we want more to come.â The Rams started strong in the SAC tournament, blowing out MACU 93-60 on Feb. 28. Not only did the victory advance the Rams to the semifinals, but it was especially sweet, given that MACU had beaten Wesleyan twice in the regular season. Senior guard Najeal Young, another one of the Ramsâ three top scorers with 14.6 points per game, said the win over MACU was simply a matter of Wesleyan wanting the victory more. âThat game, we knew what was at stake and, again, they had beaten us back to back, home and away,â he said.
But the Ramsâ hopes of winning the SAC tournament were dashed three days later when they lost 80-68 to the University of Science and Arts. It was the second time USAO had beaten Wesleyan that season, just as MACU had. â[In that second conference tournament game] we struggled,â Young said. âOur guys just didnât feel well, we were a little banged up, a little tired. Guys were just not in sync. And they (USAO) was just hitting us, they figured out their strengths and focused on our weaknesses, and thatâs why we lost from the conference tournament.â Losing in the SAC tournament did not bode well for the Ramsâ chances in the NAIA national tournament, which was set to begin in Kansas City on March 15, less than two weeks later. Could the Rams rebound from a tough loss to do better in a more difficult tournament
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Table tennis continues 15-year legacy Karan Muns
kemuns@txwes.edu
Dynasty. What else can you call the 65 national championships Texas Wesleyanâs table tennis program has won in the past 15 years? Wesleyanâs domination of college table tennis continued earlier this month, with the program winning five of a possible six titles at the 2017 TMS College Table Tennis National Championships; the wins included the program taking its 13th coed team championship, according to ramsports.net. In addition to the coed team title, Wesleyan won womenâs team, menâs single, menâs doubles and womenâs doubles at the tournament, which was held April 7-9 in Eau Claire, Wis.
The tournament included 250 players from more than 40 universities. Both the coed and womenâs teams won their titles for the second year in a row. Jishan Liang, who on April 8 became the sixth player to win one of the programâs 11 national menâs singles titles, said he âwill treasure this moment for a long time.â âIâm so proud of my university, and I feel as if I am part of a very big family,â said Liang. âMy teammates and everyone in my university are so perfect, and I really mean it. I appreciate this so much.â Liang said that his teammates inspire him to continue to work hard as part of a championcaliber team. âMy teammates are very good people nd players and we all push each other to be better,â
Photo by Sachiko Jayaratne Freshman Yue Wu, who is an Olympian, competes at nationals in Eau Claire, Wis. on April 7-9.
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