Goucher Men's Basketball Announces 25th Anniversary Celebration Of The Gophers First-Ever NCAA Division III Tournament Win

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Goucher College men's basketball team will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the 1994-95 season that resulted in Goucher's first-ever win in the NCAA Division III Tournament in school history.

Throughout the year, Goucher will recount all the games from that season through social media posts and announcements at men's basketball games at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center in 2019-20. The 25th Anniversary logo (pictured) created by the Goucher College communications office will also be used on all promotional material throughout the season. In addition, members of the 1994-95 team and the 1993-94 Capital Athletic regular season and tournament championship team will be invited back to sit on the Gophers bench during select games this year to serve as guest coaches. They will also tell their memories of the 1994-95 season and their time at Goucher in a video with the Athletic Communications department that will be shared on the website and social media. There will also be a special alumni event during Alumni Weekend in 2020.

"I'm excited that we will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the first NCAA Division III tournament win," said Goucher head coach Tom Rose. "It will be great to connect the alumni from those championship teams with our current players. The experience, hopefully will inspire our current players even more to build on the successful history of our program."

After winning the 1993-94 regular season and tournament title, the Gophers looked for a repeat as conference champion and earn the program's first-ever berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Goucher, however, finished third with a 9-5 record in the Capital Athletic Conference standings. The squad beat Gallaudet (81-61) at Decker in the opening round and then then went on the road to down No. 2 Catholic (99-85) in the CAC Semifinals and top-seed York (Pa.) (82-72) in the championship game to avenge four of the five regular season conference losses on the way to the 1994-95 CAC Tournament title and the automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Coming into the national stage for the first time, Goucher drew the defending national champion and the soon to be named 1995 USA Today Division III National Player of the Year Mike Rhodes. The Gophers got off to a hot start by making 21 of its first 30 shots from the floor en route to a stunning 102-91 win against the defending national champions. David Clark and Gerald Garlic combined for 55 points with 31 points and 24 points, respectively. Garlic and Iterny Joesph limited Rhodes to 17 points on 4-for-16 shooting in the game.

Goucher would lose to Wilkes 88-70 in the second round, but the Gophers made the most of their first trip on the national stage. 

Six teams from the 1994-95 season are on the schedule for 2019-20 season (Valley Forge [Nov. 18], Johns Hopkins [November 15], Salisbury [November 23], Gallaudet [January 8], Susquehanna [January 11 & February 2] and Catholic [January 29 & February 19]). Goucher went 8-2 against those teams during the 1994-95 season. In addition, the Gophers could add another team to the list with York (Pa.) a possible opponent on the second day of the Dick Leftwich Tip-off Tournament on November 16.

Marc Cousins, a South Paris, Maine, native, will serve as guest coach of the game for the home opener against Johns Hopkins on November 12. Cousins was a junior on the 1993-94 CAC regular season and tournament championship team that finished  17-9 overall and 8-4 in league play. 

Clark, a Baltimore, Md., native, will serve as the guest coach for the game against Salisbury on November 23. Clark led the team in scoring during the 1994-95 season with 17.8 points per game and also had a team-high 127 assists while ranking second on the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg.) and steals. Clark was the squad's leading scoring 14 times during the season including the championship game against York (Pa.) (26 points), and the NCAA Tournament games against Lebanon Valley (31 points) and Wilkes (19 points). Clark has his jersey retired and is still the program's all-time leading scorer with 1,833 career points.

Peter Manlove, a Wilmington, Del., native, will serve as the guest coach for the Landmark Conference opener against the University of Scranton on December 7. Manlove, who started the contest against Lebanon Valley, played in 29 games in his senior season including 17 starts and averaged 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He posted a season-best 15 points and 10 rebounds against Frostburg and then had 13 points against Catholic in the conference semifinals and nine points in the championship game against York.

Jeff Klein, an Oakland, N.J., native, currently lives in Florida and will serve as the guest coach at the West Palm Beach Tournament on December 21 when the Gophers will either face Geneva or Merchant Marine in the second day of the tournament. Klein appeared in 29 games including five starts in 1994-95 and averaged 4.3 and 3.1 points per game. He recorded 10 points against Salisbury, Susquehanna and Catholic during that season.

Goucher will face Clay Nunley, who was a freshman on the 1994-95 championship team, when the Gophers open the Dick Leftwich Tip-off Tournament on November 15 against Roanoke. Nunley, who is now in his fourth season as the head coach with the Maroons, appeared in 17 games during the 1994-95 season for the Gophers.

More guest coaches will be announced at a later date. Goucher opens the 2019-20 season on Friday at Valley Forge. Tipoff is 6 p.m.