The national championship, the grandest stage of college basketball, the platform upon which lasting programs and even longer lasting memories are made, was so close for Guilford on Thursday night. Just one game away, then just one half away, then just eight minutes away.

But the road to a national championship takes many twists and turns. And sometimes it cuts straight through the heart. Top-ranked Hampden-Sydney rallied and held off seventh-ranked Guilford 62-57 in the opening game of the NCAA’s Division III Final Four in Fort Wayne, Ind, to end the Quakers’ season.

Win or walk. There are no alternatives.

That is, at the same time, the best thing about the madness of March, and the most brutal. There are no second chances.

The cruel finality is this: You either need your best game, or you need a weaker opponent. Guilford had neither Thursday so its glitter season ends, in disappointment but certainly not in disgrace.

There were 26 wins and a sectional championship with upsets and last-second baskets to go around. The Quakers' memory bank is full if not overflowing.

All through this pixie dust-sprinkled season, Tyler Dearman ‘23, Julius Burch ‘23 and the rest of the Quakers took their classmates and generations of Guilfordians before them, on a heart-thumping, voice-altering ride. Every night seemed to bring out a new hero.

Thursday seemed ready for another hero when Julius buried a three-pointer – his first in five years – to give the Quakers a 47-40 lead with 8:15 to play. It capped a 13-2 run by Guilford that put the Quakers on the brink of their first Division III national championship to go with the College’s 1973 NAIA title.

But Hampden-Sydney had a one last run of its own. The Tigers scored the next 11 points and held off Guilford the rest of the way.

The Tigers, coached by Caleb Kimbrough ‘08, a four-year starting guard at Guilford (2004-08) and protégé of Coach Tom Palombo, move on to Saturday’s finals against Trine University.