Unconventional works for Queens Royals basketball.

An 84-75 win in the South Atlantic Conference tournament over eighth seed Carson-Newman (15-14, 8-12 SAC) illustrated that the No. 1 seed Royals (No. 1 in the Southeast region) find ways to get the job done, even if it is not always the cleanest. The SAC regular season champions head to Greenville, South Carolina for the semifinals at Timmons Arena on March 9 versus fifth-seed Lenoir-Rhyne (20-9, 12-8 SAC). The winner advances to the final on March 10 at 4 p.m.

At 28-3 (19-1 SAC) and No. 7 in Division II, the Royals made program history for most wins in a season, topping last year’s 26-2. They have also won at least 25 games over their last four campaigns.

“We’re kind of undersized,” coach Bart Lundy said. “We’re scrappy. Different guys make huge plays for us. We’ve got a freshman point guard [Kenny Dye]. We’ve just played different lineups. It’s just been an unconventional year, but we just keep finding a way to make it happen. I’m proud of those guys for that.”

An example is junior Daniel Carr, who was the starting point guard at the beginning of the season. While he has been in the starting lineup every game, Carr’s role has shifted.

“We had some issues with production elsewhere,” said Carr, who scored 18 points against Carson-Newman. “Coach asked me to play off the ball a little bit more to get more production for our team. Just whatever my team needed me to do, then I was all for it.”

Dye, Carr’s replacement at the point, has started 24 games, averaging 6.7 points per game. Carr stands second in scoring at 15.6, and senior forward Shaun Willett leads the way with 19.7. Willett produced his 25^th double-double of the season against Carson-Newman, scoring 21 points and producing 11 rebounds. He holds the school single-season rebounding record with 371, yet statistics are the last thing on his mind.

“If it happens, it happens,” Willett said. “I just go out there, and try and play as hard as I can, every single game, and get every single rebound that I can, just to give my team a second chance, so we can score.”

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