Chris Davis rallied and so did the Warhawks, all the way back to the title. Photo by Ryan Tipps, D3sports

UW-Whitewater erased an 18-point second half deficit and edged Cabrini 63-60 to win the 2012 Division III basketball national championship.

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Cabrini did everything right for 25 minutes. The Cavaliers held Warhawks All-American Chris Davis to three points and no field goals while building a 47-29 lead with 14:43 to play. And then UW-Whitewater rushed back.

The Warhawks put freshman Quardell Young on Cabrini All-American Cory Lemons and Young responded. He scored six points in 59 seconds and helped hold Lemons scoreless as part of a 17-2 run that brought the Warhawks back to life. Scroll down for our postgame interview with Young.

UW-Whitewater kept chipping away and finally pulled even at 55 with 3:19 left when Chris Davis drained a three-pointer from the right wing. Aaron Walton-Moss responded with a driving layup for Cabrini but then the Warhawks scored the next six points, four by Davis. John Boyd completed a three-point play to draw Cabrini within one with 43 seconds left. The Warhawks patiently ran their offense and found Alex Edmunds under the basket for a swooping layup off the glass. Cabrini got two looks at potential game-tying three pointers and missed both.

Chris Davis led UW-Whitewater's balanced attack with 12 points. Alex Merg and Edmunds added 11 and Young scored 10. John Boyd scored 18 for Cabrini, giving him 52 for the weekend. Lemons finished with seven points and seven rebounds, but was scoreless in the second half.

UW-Whitewater claims its third men's basketball title. The Warhawks last won the title in 1989 when Pat Miller, now Whitewater head coach, was a senior captain. WIAC teams have won 10 championships in 13 Final Four appearances.

The 2012 All-tournament team was Davis and Eric Bryson of Whitewater, Boyd of Cabrini, Jordan Zimmer of Illinois Wesleyan and Will Tashman of MIT. Davis was named the Most Outstanding Player. He also collected our Player of the Year award. Full All-American list

Before the title game, the East defeated the West 109-105 in the NABC All-Star game. Ryan Sharry of Middlebury (20 points, 18 rebounds, 18 minutes) was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Seth Anderson of Gustavus Adolphus finished with 22 points.