HERKIMER, N.Y. (March 17, 2023) — Trailing by 19 points in the first half, the Chaparrals needed everything to go their way to get back into their game against defending NJCAA D3 champion Dallas-North Lake in Friday's consolation play.
 
And minutes after their 53-51 come-from-behind victory, all head coach Joe Kuhn could say was one simple, seven-word sentence.
 
"It just took a lot of heart.''
 
The Chaparrals pulled off a comeback victory for the ages and now they'll play on the final day of the season Saturday when they take on Northern Essex for fifth place in the NJCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship.
 
Tip-off is noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central.
 
The list of stars includes sophomore Matt Elliott, who scored a game-high 19 points with three big 3-pointers in the second half. Fellow sophomores Drew Gaston added 13 and Finn Walsh 12 to push the Chaps, now 22-14, alive.
 
COD missed its first eight shots, committed six turnovers and allowed the Blazers to take an 11-0 lead and eventually trailed by 19 before going into halftime down 31-14.
 
The Chaps, who played the late game Thursday and lost 77-62 to Brookdale, looked bedraggled.
 
"We didn't get back to the hotel until just before midnight, and to turn around and get ready against a team that's used to winning, well, it could have been even uglier in the second half.''
 
The Chaps picked apart at the lead that was as large as 20 when the Blazers' DeKyre Fuller scored his only 3-pointer of the game, giving his team a 34-14 lead 25 seconds into the second half.
 
COD cut the lead in half (36-26) when Elliott drained a 3 at the 16:02 mark, and it got inside two possessions of the lead on Elliott's free throws and the Chaps down 41-36 with 8:04 left.
 
"When we changed to a zone, it changed the complexion of the game,'' Kuhn said. "They had a hard time figuring out what to do, and it allowed us to get going in our transition game with a bunch of clean looks.''
 
The run of success continued, beginning with a free throw from Alijah Nelson that opened an impressive 11-2 run. Elliott added a 3-pointer and consecutive field goals from Gaston, none bigger than his 3-pointer from 30-feet, gave COD its first lead of the game, 49-46 with 2:31 left.
 
"Inside the final two minutes, we switched zones into a 2-3 and they couldn't' answer,'' Kuhn said.
 
Down the stretch, Gaston added two free throws and Walsh hit a front end of a two-shot foul.

Gaston ended it with another front end free throw with eight seconds and COD earned the right to play another day.
 
"I could not be prouder of the effort we showed today,'' Kuhn said. "You cannot measure heart, but we have it, and showed it, and left them stunned. We were undersized and just played tougher than our opponent. We had good match-ups today, and credit (assistants) Eric Garcia and Ryan Kaiser.''

Derome White was the lone bright spot for COD in the first half, hitting a pair of 3-pointers.