He won his 300th game in his dad’s tournament. He needed a little last-minute magic.
Brian Lane is in his 19th season coaching men’s basketball at Transylvania University.
This week presented Lane a unique opportunity: He could win his 300th career game coaching in the Pioneers’ annual tournament named in honor of his father.
The first chance came Tuesday, and went about as badly as possible. The Pioneers were routed, 107-61, by Marietta (Ohio) College, the sixth-ranked team in NCAA Division III.
That bizarre defeat, which had to go into the record book as one of Lane’s worst, dropped Transylvania into Wednesday’s consolation game at the Beck Center.
With the game on the line and the next opportunity to secure win No. 300 12 agonizing days away, the Pioneers got the job done for their coach in the closing seconds Wednesday, defeating DePauw 75-74 to claim third-place in the four-team Don Lane Classic.
Transylvania improved to 6-3 on the season, and Lane advanced to 300-190 as head coach of the Pioneers. Lane’s father totaled 509 wins across 26 years at Transylvania before retiring after the 2000-01 season. Brian Lane took over the next year and has been the head coach ever since.
During that time, Brian Lane has led the Pioneers to 20 or more wins five times and to NCAA Tournament berths five times, going as far as the Elite Eight in 2006. He has been named Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year four times.
Wednesday’s win came down to creative coaching, determined effort and a little bit of luck.
Transy trailed DePauw 74-71 with 24 seconds to play. The Pioneers’ Michael Jefferson (Madison Southern) drove the right side of the lane, scored and was fouled with 19 seconds left. Jefferson missed the free throw and DePauw’s Nolan Ginther grabbed the rebound. But Ginther lost his balance, lost the ball and Transy was awarded possession after the ensuing scramble led to a jump ball. The Pioneers ran a high-low screen on the inbounds play and generated the go-ahead layup by Zach Larimore (Oldham County) with 14 seconds remaining.
On DePauw’s final possession, Ginther broke free to the basket but Spencer McKinney (Danville) dropped off his man in the corner to help defensively and rose up to block Ginther’s layup attempt and secure the victory.
Four Pioneers scored in double figures Wednesday, led by Lucas Gentry (Rockcastle County) with 22. Larimore had 19, Gabe Schmitt (Trinity) 13 and Jefferson 12.
Cooper Mixon topped DePauw (3-6) with 16 points.
Transylvania returns to action Dec. 30 when it visits Centre College in Danville. Centre defeated Transy 58-57 at the Beck Center on Nov. 20.