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DAYTON, Ohio -- D.J. Evans is charitably listed at 5-foot-9. His coach and teammates tease him that he looks a foot shorter. Yet he stood awfully tall for Albany on Tuesday night. Evans scored 22 points, including two clinching free throws with 12.6 seconds left, to lead the Great Danes to their first NCAA tournament victory, 71-64 over Mount St. Marys in the First Four. Evans, an often overlooked component in Albanys lineup, belied his height with nine rebounds to go with three assists. "Hes about 4-foot-8, so hes really impressive," laughed his running mate at guard, Peter Hooley, who had 20 points. "I dont think theres another 4-8 guard who could go in there and get that many boards. He did what he needed to do to get this win." It was a signature victory for the America East Conference tournament champs, who had come up empty in three previous trips to the big dance. "It means a lot," said an emotional coach Will Brown. "Theres no better feeling. Like I told our kids, were going to be in the history books at the University of Albany forever." The Great Danes (19-14) advance to meet overall No. 1 seed and top-ranked Florida on Thursday in Orlando. But that was a concern for another day. It was a wild game of incredible turnarounds, with the Great Danes bolting to leads of 13-0 and 21-2, only to have The Mount (16-17) bounce back with a 21-2 run of its own to pull even. Hooley, one of three Australians on the Albany roster, hit two free throws with 2:43 remaining to stretch the lead to 65-62. After Julian Norfleet countered with a bucket, Hooley again pounded his way to the basket and lofted a shot over a defender for a 67-64 lead at the 2-minute mark. It stayed that way with the teams missing big shots. Rashad Whack and Norfleet each missed potential tying 3s -- Whacks rolled almost inside the rim and then bounded away. "When it hit the rim, I thought it was going to go in," Whack said softly. Evans was fouled with 12.6 seconds left and hit both shots to increase the lead to five points -- and out of reach of another long-range shot. Evans was most proud of his rebounding. "They shot a lot of 3s and there were a lot of long rebounds," he said with a grin. "I was just at the right place at the right time." After playing two years of junior-college ball and sitting behind a senior starter a year ago, Brown told Evans his day would eventually come. "Hes the happiest kid in the world right now," Brown said. Norfleet then missed another 3 and Albany finally could call itself an NCAA winner. Will Miller, a freshman who came off the bench, led The Mount with 21 points, all on 3s. But he didnt get off a shot in the last 3:32 after making back-to-back 3s to draw the Mountaineers within a point. Whack added 16 points and Sam Prescott 14 for The Mount, which electrified the crowd at the University of Dayton with 3-point fireworks. The Mountaineers hit 12 of 37 shots behind the arc to time and again come back from deficits. The glut of 3-pointers was nothing new for the Mountaineers. They came in with an offence heavily dependent on shots behind the arc. They averaged 9 of 25 on 3-pointers coming in. Albany had made some racket in the NCAAs before, but had never come out on top. In 2006, the Great Danes led by double figures in the second half but lost to Connecticut, 72-59. A year later, they held their own before falling Virginia, 84-57. A year ago, as a 15 seed, they battled Duke throughout before coming up short, 73-61. Mount St. Marys was also making its fourth NCAA appearance, although it had won once before -- a victory over Coppin State in 2008 in the old format of an opening-round leading into the big tournament. Albany led 35-31 at the break, but that didnt tell the story of one bizarre half. The Mount couldnt do much right for the first 8-plus minutes. The Great Danes raced to a 13-0 lead. The Mountaineers missed misfired on their first 11 shots from the field, including six behind the arc. "A lot of teams would have folded," said Mount coach Jamion Christian. "Our guys didnt do that. They took the punch and they bounced back." Things quickly turned around, with Mount going on an 18-0 run. Like a couple of sparring partners, the teams kept trading flurries in the second half. Down 45-41, Albany went on a 10-1 run. Trailing 60-53, the Mountaineers scored nine of the next 12 capped by Millers two 3s to cut the deficit to a point. That set the stage for Evans to play like a giant. Vans Old Skool Discount . The Tiger-Cats announced on Friday the linebacker has signed a new contract with the team through the 2016 season. Buy Cheap Old Skool . The 31-year-old Russian dominated the No. 3-ranked Ferrer throughout, breaking the defending champion and local favourite four times on the indoor hard court. http://www.cheapoldskool.us/. 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Portland trailed 5-2, but battled back to tie the game. The Winterhawks completed the comeback when Iverson tipped a Dominic Turgeon shot past Edmonton goalie Tristan Jarry 7:23 into overtime. "Thats definitely the biggest goal of my life," Iverson said. "I was just in shock when I scored. "Its been such an unbelievable series. Its been crazy. Its going to be quite the final game." The seventh and deciding game of the WHL final will take place Monday in Portland. Mathew Dumba had a pair of goals and Anton Cederholm, Keoni Texeira and Derrick Pouliot also scored for the Winterhawks, who had dropped three straight after owning a 2-0 advantage to start the best-of-seven finals. Prior to the three losses in the finals, the Winterhawks had only lost three games in their previous 45 outings. "We knew we just had to stick with it," said Portland head coach Mike Johnston. "We have the ability to score and have built that confidence throughout the year. Our guys were great. They played through it. It was a great character win. Its unusual to look at a scoresheet and see five defencemen scoring like we had tonight." Dumba credited goalie Corbin Boes, who was pulled after the first period, for firing the team up before the comeback. "He gave one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever heard," Dumba said. "He stood up like a 20-year-old should and made a great speech. He said he had never been on a team that is so tightly-knit like this and he wanted to keep it going. He believed in all of us and he got really emotional and I think it hit home with all of us. Just talking about it now gives me chills." Henrik Samuelsson and Edgars Kulda each had two-goal games and Curtis Lazar also scored for the Oil Kings, who lost for the first time at home in the playoffs, dropping to 10-1. "Its the old story, you have to play 60 minutes and we played about 35 before we sat back a bit," said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal. "It is what it is. We are headed to a Game 7. It didnt look very good for us coming back from being down 2-0 in the series and our mindset has to be that we will take another chance to win this tomorrow." Edmonton captain Griffin Reinhart agreed that his team missed out on an opportunity, but can take solace in having one more chance. "We got the lead and were maybe a llittle bit too comfortable," he said.dddddddddddd "We played not to lose rather than to win. It is a tough loss, but tomorrow is a new day and we have to bounce back. "I think our adrenaline is going to be big tomorrow. Its a seven-game series for a reason." Ten WHL finals have gone to a seventh game, and not one has been captured by the visiting team. Edmonton carried over the momentum from their previous three wins to get off to a great start in front of a WHL playoff-high crowd of 11,902 at Rexall Place. The Oil Kings took a 1-0 lead five minutes into the first period with a power-play goal. A Dysin Mayo shot hit Mitch Moroz on the way to the net and Samuelsson was able to poke his seventh of the playoffs past Boes. Samuelsson notched his second goal of the game 1:26 later as Moroz forced a turnover deep in Portland territory and sent it across the ice. Samuelsson blasted the puck off of Boes glove and in to put the Oil Kings up 2-0. Edmonton took a three-goal advantage with 51 seconds remaining in the first period as Kuldas shot found its way through a maze of players and into the Portland net. Brendan Burke came in to replace Boes in the Portland net to start the second period. Portland got on the board less than four minutes into the second as Dumbas point blast beat Jarry on a 5-on-3 man advantage. The Winterhawks made it 3-2 with seven minutes left in the second as Cederholm came down the left side and picked the top corner with a wrist shot. Just 45 seconds after Portlands goal, Edmontons Reid Petryk picked off a pass and sent a backhander to Lazar, and the Ottawa Senators prospect scored his ninth of the playoffs. Less than a minute later, Edmonton made it 5-2 as Mayo made a long lead pass to give Kulda a breakaway, and he beat Burke stick side for his second of the game. The Winterhawks cut Edmontons lead to two goals again with Dumbas second goal, also on the power play goal three minutes into the third. Portland made it 5-4 with 14 minutes remaining as De Leo put a puck on net and Texeira got it under Jarry and into the net. The Hawks tied the game with just under nine minutes left as Pouliot blew the puck past Jarry to eventually send the game to overtime. Notes: Its the third consecutive season that the Oil Kings and Winterhawks have met in the WHL Championship Series. 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