Staff Reports

GREENSBORO — A few miles from where ACC basketball teams battled for a tournament championship this weekend, Guilford College was punching its second straight ticket to the NCAA Division III Final Four.

The Quakers, buoyed by four players with Yadkin and Surry county ties, earned a return trip to the D3 semifinals courtesy of two wins on its home floor at Ragan-Brown Field House.

Guilford first beat Wooster 75-68 on Friday and then avenged an earlier loss to conference rival Eastern Mennonite 90-80 on Saturday. The Quakers (30-2) will travel to Salem, Va. this weekend for Final Four action.

Elkin High graduate Tyler Sanborn, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference player of the year, had a couple more monster games.

The 6-10 senior center scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Saturday’s sectional final win over Eastern Mennonite, which had beaten Guilford 90-63 on Feb. 10. That included a double-double in the second half alone (12 points, 11 boards). For the game, Sanborn made 11 of 14 shots from the floor.

Sanborn scored 21 points and grabbed a whopping 23 rebounds in Friday’s victory over Wooster. He made 10-of-17 shots from the field.

Yadkinville’s Rhett Bonner played a big role in the win over Wooster at the foul line, making 10 of 12 attempts. The senior point guard finished with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals in the Friday victory.

Bonner scored nine points with four rebounds against Eastern Mennonite. He made all four of his free throw attempts.

Teammate Clay Henson from Glen Alpine scored 25 points for the Quakers. Eastern Mennonite, led by DJ Hinson (37 points, 25 in the first half), opened up a 19-12 lead early. But Henson scored 14 of Guilford’s next 16 points to help the home team take the lead.

Guilford led 47-40 at the half, making 70.4 percent of its shots from the field (19 of 27). The Quakers held a double digit lead for much of the second half.

Sanborn now has 29 double-doubles on the season.

Guilford will play Williams College of Massachusetts (29-1) in one D3 national semifinal on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center. The other teams vying for the national title include Wisconsin-Stevens Point (27-4) and Randolph-Macon College (26-6), who will play in the 7 p.m. semifinal.

Randolph-Macon plays in Guilford’s conference, and the Quakers beat the Yellow Jackets 81-65 to win the ODAC tournament championship on Feb. 28.

The D3 national championship game will be Saturday at 1 p.m. A senior all-star game, sponsored by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, will replace the consolation game and will be played Saturday at 10 a.m.

CBS will broadcast the national championship game.

Tickets to the semifinals and finals cost $12.50 per day or $25 for an all-tournament booklet. Guilford has an allotment of tickets to sell on campus starting Monday (3/15) at 10:00 a.m. in 101 Alumni Gym on Guilford’s campus.