Saturday men: Tommies knocked off, Marietta downed again


Jordan Bolger scored 12 of his 20 points after St. Thomas took a nine-point second-half lead.
Concordia-Moorhead athletics file photo

Two top 10 teams were upset on Saturday afternoon and a third team barely survived as the road, and the second time through the conference schedule, was once again unkind to ranked teams. Second-ranked St. Thomas and No. 3 Marietta lost and No. 6 Albertus Magnus and No. 8 Babson barely survived, while No. 9 Dickinson edged No. 10 Johns Hopkins at home.

Jordan Bolger hit a jumper to give Concordia-Moorhead a 68-66 lead with 30 seconds left, then rebounded a missed shot and took it the other way for a layup with 10 seconds to go to secure the Cobbers' 72-66 win vs. No. 2 St. Thomas.

Bolger scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half as the Cobbers snapped the Tommies' 16-game winning streak, ending the game on a 13-2 run. The Tommies led by as many as nine points in the second half but shot 7-for-22 from the floor the rest of the way, with no field goals in the final four and a half minutes. On the other side, Concordia-Moorhead shot 70 percent from the floor in the second half.

It's hardly the first time the Cobbers have taken down a highly ranked Tommies team. It happened as recently as 2013, when Concordia upset St. Thomas when it was No. 1 in the poll.

John Carroll claimed a second win over a team currently in the Top 10 as the Blue Streaks locked down Marietta in an 86-71 win. The Pioneers (21-2, 14-2 OAC) had trouble with the John Carroll press, turning the ball over in the backcourt six times in the first half. The Blue Streaks, who had defeated St. Norbert earlier in the season, got 30 points from David Linane to improve to 17-5, 13-3.

Tavon Sledge had a steal and layup to end the game to lift No. 6 Albertus Magnus to a 77-75 win at Johnson and Wales. The Falcons had led by as many as 20 points in the second half, 53-33, before J&W rallied, tying the game at 69-69 with 2:51 to go. Quarry Greenaway hit a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats (18-5, 13-3 GNAC) a two-point lead with 21 seconds left, but Lemar Larsen tied the game eight seconds later and Sledge's heroics got the win for the Falcons (21-1, 15-0).

Eighth-ranked Babson just avoided joining the group of upsets as well. Joey Flannery scored 24 of his game-high 31 points after halftime as the Beavers rallied to defeat Clark 77-73 in overtime. With its ninth straight win, Babson is now 21-2 overall and has clinched at least a share of the regular-season league title at 11-1.

Brandon Angradi hit two of three free throws with two seconds to go and a Johns Hopkins 3-point attempt missed at the buzzer, allowing No. 9 Dickinson to hold on and defeat No. 10 Johns Hopkins in a Centennial Conference battle in Carlisle, Pa. Gerry Wixted scored a team-high 21 points for the Red Devils, who snapped a two-game losing streak. 

St. Olaf outscored Hamline 16-4 in the fourth period -- the second overtime -- lifting the No. 15 Oles to a 100-88 road win. Sterling Nielsen led all scorers with 28 points and Ben Figini added 15 points and 13 rebounds to bring the Oles back within a half-game of first place in the MIAC heading into Monday night's showdown with St. Thomas.

Joe Hassell recorded his third consecutive double-double and sixth of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds as No. 4 Randolph-Macon held off Randolph 74-66 for its program-record 18th consecutive victory. Virginia Wesleyan, just one spot behind Randolph-Macon in the national rankings but three games back of the Yellow Jackets in the ODAC standings, got 26 from Khory Moore in defeating Washington and Lee 71-53.

No. 17 St. John Fisher won for the 18th consecutive time and clinched the top seed in the Empire 8 conference tournament with a 71-51 win vs. Nazareth. Keegan Ryan and Stefan Bock scored 16 points apiece as the Cardinals improved to 20-2, 13-0 in the conference.

No. 21 Richard Stockton edged Kean 64-63, but there was no last-minute basket to win the game. In fact, there was no last-minute basket at all. Or second-to-last-minute basket. Josh Blamon hit a 3-pointer with 3:09 left to put the Ospreys up 64-63 and nobody scored again. Richard Stockton kept Kean in the game by missing all four free throw attempts in the final two minutes.

TCNJ knocked off No. 22 William Paterson 80-70 on Saturday behind 25 points and five assists from Jayson Johnson, knocking the Pioneers back into a tie for first in the NJAC with Richard Stockton. If Paterson defeats Rowan and Stockton loses to Montclair State on Wednesday, the Pioneers will be the first seed and the Ospreys will be second in the upcoming NJAC tournament. Any other combination of wins and losses will make Stockton the first seed and William Paterson the second seed.

No. 25 Elmhurst stayed within a game of second place in the CCIW and kept North Central from being able to clinch a spot in the conference tournament as the Bluejays defeated the Cardinals 84-78 in overtime. Elmhurst (19-6, 9-4) had four scorers in double figures and outrebounded North Central 56-37, keeping the Cardinals to just one second-chance point. Bryant Ackerman scored 20 points and hit a clutch game-tying 3-pointer late in regulation.

Stevens got 28 points off the bench from Chris Cosgrove and 23 points and 19 rebounds from Kenny Gan as the Ducks outlasted Ithaca 125-120 in double overtime. Stevens overcame a triple-double from Sam Bevan (11 points, 11 rebounds, 16 assists) and 38 points from Marc Chasin, moving to within one game of the Bombers for the final playoff spot in the four-team Empire 8 tournament.

Mike Cherry scored a game-high 23 points and shot 5-for-9 from 3-point range as Christopher Newport defeated Marymount 80-62, moving into a three-way tie for second behind St. Mary's (Md.) in the Capital Athletic Conference. Salisbury beat archrival Frostburg State 72-54 behind 16 points from Wyatt Smith and Gordon Jeter. Troy Spurrier scored a game-high 25 off the bench for St. Mary's, which got Seahawks coach Chris Harney his 200th career win.

Graham Safford recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards as Bates defeated rival Colby 82-77, finishing with the most NESCAC wins in program history at 7-3, and 18-5 overall. The Bobcats clinched a home game in the first round of the NESCAC tournament, with seedings to be finalized after Sunday's Amherst-Middlebury game.

Alma defeated Hope for the first time in 41 meetings as Scott Nikodemski had 21 points and seven assists to lift the Scots past the Flying Dutchmen 91-84. Hope (15-8 overall) fell back into a second-place tie with Trine in the MIAA standings. Both teams have 8-4 league records and trail first-place Calvin by two games with two remaining. Alma last defeated Hope in 1998.

Coltrane Powdrill scored a game-high 36 and Arik Smith added 35 as Cal Lutheran defeated Whittier 111-108 in triple overtime. ... Jaumonee Byrd and Christian Ford each joined the 1,000-point club for Maryville as the Scots defeated Huntingdon 97-71. Meanwhile, Spencer Shoffner was the game's high scorer, putting up 34 points in the win. ... Endicott got 30 points off its bench and won its ninth consecutive game, defeating Curry 77-57 to improve to 18-5, 14-2 in the CCC. ... Nykolas King scored 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting as Lycoming defeated Lebanon Valley 67-59 to clinch the top seed in the Commonwealth Conference tournament.