By Nick Eatman
When Jason Ebie took a phone call from Chris
Hagan last summer, the two of them made a deal.
A pair of former high school
stars from the Houston area, these two guards found themselves in
the same boat. After starting for their respective Division I
schools for more than two seasons each, both Hagan and Ebie needed
a new start, a new team and a new goal. And they needed it quickly.
“I called Jason up and I
knew he was being recruited to Midwestern,” Hagan said.
“I told him, ‘I don’t know where you’re
thinking about going, but if you come here, we’re going to
win a national championship.’”
Some seven months and 31 wins
later, Hagan and Ebie are now three victories away from
accomplishing that very goal and bringing home MSU’s
first-ever basketball national championship.
Hagan and Ebie are two of the
backcourt stars for Midwestern State, which plays St. Cloud (Minn.)
Wednesday (11 a.m.) in the Elite Eight round of the Division II
NCAA Championships in Springfield, Mass.
Hagan, a junior transfer from
Rice and Blinn JC, grew up playing AAU and high school ball against
Ebie, who spent three years at TCU before joining Midwestern this
season.
“This is exactly what I
came here for – to play for a championship,” Ebie said
with a championship net around his neck after MSU’s win over
Central Missouri last week. “I told people if I was going to
go to any Division II school, I wanted to win it all and set
records. And that’s what we’re doing.”
The Mustangs, led by first-year
head coach Grant McCasland, are ranked third in the nation with a
31-2 record and winners of 10 straight games, including three to
win the Lone Star Conference Championship in Bartlesville, Okla.,
and then three more in the South Central Regional in Wichita Falls.
And McCasland has certainly
instilled a team-first mentality to the Mustangs, who not only lost
head coach Jeff Ray and his 13 years of experience, but an
All-American scorer in Nolan Richardson IV from last year’s
team.
This year, the Mustangs have a
more balanced attack that has featured 10 different leading scorers
this year. Senior guard Craig Green leads the way, scoring 16.8
points a contest. He had 12 games of at least 20 points or more was
recently named Most Outstanding Players of the South Central
Regional.
But one might argue that it was
either Hagan, Ebie or maybe both, who proved to be the biggest
difference down the stretch, especially in the waning moments of
MSU’s dramatic 60-59 comeback win over Central Missouri to
advance to the Elite Eight round.
While Green provided the
offensive spark to give MSU a 26-12 first-half lead and a
seven-point halftime advantage, the Mustangs needed their other two
guards late in the game after the Mules roared back to grab a
six-point lead with 3:03 to play.
That’s when Ebie, as
he’s done all year long, found a way to make plays. Ebie
scored on a driving layup to slice the lead to four, and then Hagan
came up with a steal on the ensuing in, dished it off to Ebie for
another layup and the Mustangs were suddenly within two.
After hitting just one of two
free throws on the next possession, Hagan gave MSU the lead with a
floating jumper with a minute to play, putting the Mustangs in
front 60-59. Central Missouri would miss two layups in the final
minute to advance MSU to the next round.
After the furious finish, Hagan
hopped up on the scorer’s table at press row, with a fist
pump pointing high in the sky. Moments later, he was joined by Ebie
on the table. Both guards were catalysts in the comeback, just like
they’ve been catalysts in the team’s success all season
long.
“We talk about those
situations all the time and these two guys just stepped up once
again,” said McCasland, who made it a point to sign quick
guards such as Hagan and Ebie as soon as he was hired as the new
basketball coach. “I knew the type of system we were going to
play and we have to have guys who can be aggressive with the ball
and play good defense. I knew Chris and Jason were those types of
guys. And they’ve been everything we could’ve asked for
and more.”
Ebie and Hagan were both named
All-Tournament selections for the region, and Ebie actually took
home Tournament MVP honors for the LSC Championships in
Bartlesville. Although he scored just three points in the final
against Tarleton State and just six points in the quarterfinal
round against Southwestern Oklahoma, it was his season-high 23
points against Northeastern State in the semifinals that saved his
Mustangs from a potential upset. Ebie canned a pair of long-range
3-pointers in the final minutes to rally MSU for the victory.
“Whatever my team needs, I
try to provide it,” Ebie said. “If it’s scoring,
or passing or defense, I’m going to try to be that guy that
can do everything.”
Ebie averaged just 10.8 points
per game and led the team in scoring four times. But it was his
distribution on offense and constant pressure on defense that never
wavered.
In fact, Ebie enters
Wednesday’s game against St. Cloud with 174 assists, tying
LeRoy Shaw’s single-season school record that has stood since
1976. Ebie also has 83 steals, good for fourth-most in a season in
school history, and just five behind the record of 88, set by James
Burkhalter (1988). Ebie was also named LSC South Defensive Player
of the Year.
While Ebie has garnered a few
more accolades, Hagan isn’t far behind. He also ranks in the
Top 10 in school history in single-season steals with 71, which is
currently tied for sixth. Hagan ranked second on the squad in
scoring with 13.6 points per game.
“Chris is just a tough kid
that knows how to get the job done,” McCasland said.
“He’s a very smart player and he’s been a glue to
this team this year. If we need him to score, he’ll make a
big shot like he did (against Central) or if we need a big steal,
he’ll do that, too.”
In a game against Angelo State
late in the regular season, with the LSC South title at stake,
Hagan found himself shooting just 3-of-12 from the floor in a
wide-open game where the Mustangs needed all the scoring they could
get. Instead, Hagan proved to be clutch on the defensive end,
registering six steals, including two in overtime of a 105-100
victory.
“My job is to just be
aggressive at both ends,” Hagan said. “I just want to
be labeled as basketball player. I don’t know if it’s a
scorer, or a defender – just a ball player who goes hard
every play.”
More than anything, Ebie and
Hagan wouldn’t mind being labeled as “winners”
either.
Three more wins in Springfield,
Mass., this week and no one would be able to dispute that.