By Joe Vanden Acker, Director of Athletic Media Relations
    APPLETON, Wis. -- It was the moment that put Lawrence University men's basketball on the map.
    In a few weeks in March 2004, the Vikings burst onto the national scene and came within a whisker of reaching the NCAA Division III Final Four.
    "It could have easily been us winning out there," Lawrence coach John Tharp told Dick Knapinski of the Appleton Post-Crescent after an 82-81 overtime loss to UW-Stevens Point in the Elite Eight. "The most disheartening thing is that you can coach for 50 years and never get a group of people like we had, playing for us and representing our college. You just look up to the Lord and feel thankful and blessed to have those 18 guys representing what athletics are about."
    Lawrence put together a 19-4 regular season, and that included a 13-game win streak encompassing two months. The Vikings won the regular season title and hosted the Midwest Conference Tournament, which started with a workmanlike 68-63 victory over Lake Forest College at a packed Alexander Gymnasium. Lawrence then knocked off Carroll University 82-71 in the tournament championship game behind a 26-point, 15-rebound performance from Chris Braier to earn its second berth in the NCAA Tournament and its first since 1997.
    The Vikings now stood 21-4 and earned a first-round NCAA Tournament home game against Lakeland College on March 4. Lawrence put on a stifling defensive performance as it held Lakeland without a field goal for nearly 14 minutes to build its lead from 37-32 to 71-36 with just under eight minutes left. The Vikings went on to an 86-51 victory, and that 35-point margin of victory was the largest of any game in all of the NCAA Tournament games played at any level in 2004.

Chris Braier (34) takes it to the basket against Sul Ross State in the NCAA Tournament.

    The Vikings got all of one day of preparation before they hit the road for the 450-plus mile bus ride to Storm Lake, Iowa, and the campus of Buena Vista University for a second-round game on March 6. Playing in front of a rabid crowd of nearly 1,700 at Siebens Fieldhouse, the Vikings slugged it out with the physical Beavers. With the game tied at 34-34, Chris MacGillis hit a 3-pointer and then had an improbable four-point play as he banked in a 3-pointer and was fouled. Lawrence led 41-34 and then held off every rally the Beavers mounted on its way to a 72-66 victory. MacGillis finished with 18 points, and his younger brother, Kyle, added 14. Braier and Dan Evans had 11 points apiece, and Braier pulled down 20 of Lawrence's 38 rebounds.
    Lawrence returned home bleary-eyed just after 6 a.m. the following morning with the task of getting ready for a trip to the Sweet 16.
    The Vikings flew 2,000 miles west to Tacoma, Wash., for the sectional tournament at the University of Puget Sound. 
    Lawrence faced Sul Ross State University of Alpine, Texas, in the Sweet 16, and it looked like that's where the Vikings' remarkable run would end. Sul Ross built an 18-point lead at 61-43 with 11:55 left in the game before the Vikings rallied. 
    Evans drained a 3-pointer to start a 9-0 run that cut the margin to 61-52 with 10:25 left. Sul Ross countered with a 3-pointer, but the Vikings went on a 16-4 outburst. Aaron Sorenson's 3-pointer with 4:27 left gave Lawrence a 68-66 advantage, its first lead since late in the first half. The game was a see-saw affair from that point, but Sul Ross led 74-70 with 1:24 remaining. Sorenson hit a jumper to cut the margin in half with 1:06 left, and the Vikings got a defensive stop.
    The Vikings missed a jumper, but Braier grabbed the offensive rebound, his fifth of the game, and was fouled with 15 seconds left. Braier hit both free throws to tie the game at 74-74, and Sul Ross' Rick Herrera missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
    Larry Morales opened the OT with a jumper for Sul Ross, but Chris MacGillis hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and Lawrence had the lead for good at 77-76. Sul Ross went just 2-for-8 from the floor in the overtime as the Vikings edged away and built an 82-77 lead on Jason Holinbeck's jumper with 55 seconds left. The Vikings went 6-for-8 from the foul line in the final 36 seconds to seal the 86-79 victory.
    The Vikings moved on to an Elite Eight matchup with UW-Stevens Point, a school just 70 miles from the Lawrence campus. The game would be one for the ages, contested 2,000 miles from Wisconsin in front of a small but fervent crowd made up mostly of Lawrence supporters.
    Lawrence went on a nice run late in the first half all courtesy of Chris MacGillis. He scored 17 consecutive points for the Vikings as they expanded their lead from 22-18 to 38-28 with 3:39 remaining in the first half. The Pointers took that gut punch and responded by scoring the game's next eight points, and Lawrence hung on for a 40-39 lead at the half. 
    Neither team led by more than four in the second half, and the game featured eight ties in regulation. Lawrence looked like it might seize control when Braier hit a jumper with 1:04 left for a 70-67 lead. Nick Bennett, the son of Pointers coach Jack Bennett, answered with a jumper with 47 ticks left. The Vikings pushed the lead back to 72-69 on Evans' jumper with just 17 seconds remaining. 
    Bennett, with Holinbeck draped on him, hit an improbable 3-pointer with nine seconds left to tie the game at 72-72, and the Vikings didn't get off a shot before the buzzer. 
    Eric Maus hit the first basket of the overtime for the Pointers, but Holinbeck answered with a 3-pointer to give Lawrence a 75-74 lead. Holinbeck finished with 18 points and went 6-for-8 from 3-point range. The teams exchanged a pair of free throws and missed shots, but an offensive rebound gave Stevens Point another chance. Bennett hit a jumper, and the Pointers led 78-77 with 46 seconds left.
    Braier was fouled on the next possession and made both free throws to put the Vikings up by one, but Jason Kalsow hit a jumper with 31 seconds left to give Stevens Point an 80-79 edge. Braier answered again as he hit a jumper with 20 ticks remaining for an 81-80 Lawrence lead.
    On the ensuing possession, the ball found Maus' hands, who hit a 12-foot jumper left of the lane with 5.6 seconds remaining to give the Pointers an 82-81 lead. Evans came streaking across the the free throw line and caught the inbounds pass like a wide receiver on the run. He raced up the court, and for a moment it looked like he would go all the way to the basket. Bennett finally stepped up to stop Evans, who kicked it to an open teammate. The 3-pointer from the right wing was on target but skipped off the front of the rim and caromed away as the buzzer sounded. 
    Chris MacGillis finished with 22 points, and Braier had 18 points and seven rebounds. Evans added 10 points and six rebounds as he went 4-for-5 from the floor.
    While the night ended in heartbreak for the Vikings, Lawrence had established itself as a program to be reckoned with on the national level. The Vikings made Midwest Conference history as they were the first, and the only, team from the league to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Lawrence finished the season with a 24-5 record and ranked seventh in the final D3hoops.com Top 25.     
    "Those brainiacs over at Lawrence showed they can ball with anybody on the Division III level," wrote Post-Crescent columnist Mike Woods, "and those of you who were paying attention no doubt had quite a ball following their Shock the Nation National Tour."  

The Top 25 Countdown ...
No. 25 Lawrence football makes ABC-TV debut vs. Cornell in 1980
No. 24 Lawrence football beats Coe 14-10 in 1986 MWC Championship Game
No. 23 Lawrence women's soccer beats Aurora 2-1 for first NCAA Tournament win
No. 22 Aljay Wren and Nick Maxam team up for 99-yard touchdown pass
No. 21 Remarkable turnaround for women's basketball
No. 20 Jim Miller takes 12th at 1978 NCAA Cross Country Championships
No. 19 Basketball stars Kenya Earl, Brad Sendell chase scoring titles
No. 18 Cross country sweeps Midwest Conference titles in 2021
No. 17 Keven Bradley scores final 20 points for men's basketball in win over Ripon
No. 16 Men's basketball breaks 54-year drought by winning 1997 Midwest Conference title
No. 15 Football beats Ripon in final seconds to secure third straight Midwest Conference title
No. 14 Kate Leventhal runs to All-America cross country honors in 1981
No. 13 No. 1 Lawrence men's basketball team hosts 2006 NCAA Division III sectional
No. 12 (tie) Josh Janusiak runs to All-America honors/1950 cross country team eighth in nation
No. 11 Keven Bradley's buzzer-beater preserves perfect season and delivers Midwest Conference title
No. 10 Mike Gattnar wins NCAA title in epee
No. 9 Mallory Koula's 42-second hat trick
No. 8 1967 football team posts perfect season
No. 7 Men's hockey pulls off epic comeback against St. Norbert
No. 6 Sara Schye pitches Lawrence to pair of NCAA Tournament wins
No. 5 Andy Kazik caps perfect season with NCAA wrestling title
No. 4 Jiayi Ling wins Lawrence's first NCAA title with victory in long jump