Notables
-Fifth straight year the teams have met in the postseason, all UNW victories.
-Points off turnovers: UNW-17, CSS-4
-Second-Chance Points: UNW-12, CSS-5
-Only two home losses this season when leading at the half came against Northwestern

 
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 69-65 loss to the University of Northwestern (Minn.) Wednesday night in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament semifinals at the Reif Gymnasium.
 
Déjà vu for the Saints
The final 10 minutes mirrored the regular season meeting at The Reif in January between the two teams. If you recall, in that game the Saints led 39-36 at the half and led with less than eight minutes remaining, but the Eagles went on a 9-0 run around the five minute mark to steal the victory.
 
Fast forward to tonight. The Saints were ahead for over 25 minutes of the game and led 37-33 at the half. CSS erased an early 10-3 deficit and made six 3-pointers in first half. The Saints shot 54 percent from the floor, while the Eagles shot 44 percent in the first 20 minutes of action.
 
St. Scholastica was in front for the first 16 minutes of the second half. A Sam Thompson 3-pointer gave St. Scholastica a seven-point lead with 15:30 remaining. Northwestern got the lead down to two twice before back-to-back layups by Joe Stark and Collin Anderson extended the lead back to six with nine minutes remaining.
 
An Anderson 3-pointer gave the Saints a 59-54 lead with 6:26 remaining. Unfortunately for CSS, it would go without a field goal for the next four minutes following the 3-pointer. Much like the game in January, the Eagles proceeded to go on an 11-0 run, going 4-for-4 from field, while the Saints were 0-for-3 from the field, missed a pair of free throws and had one turnover. Northwestern led 65-59 with over two minutes left.
 
A Zach Dahlman 3-pointer ended the drought with two minutes remaining. After a pair of Brandon Newman free throws, the Saints were down by one with 1:30 to go.
 
Northwestern's Isaiah Rahier answered with a jumper to extend the lead back to three with 1:14 remaining. On the ensuing possession, CSS made 1-of-2 free throws to make it 67-65 with a minute left.
 
On Northwestern's possession, the Eagles would get a critical offensive rebound to prolong the possession. Then with the shot clock winding down, Caleb Hageman hit an off-balance jumper to make it 69-65 with 12 seconds remaining.
 
St. Scholastica would try a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but it was off the mark as Northwestern advances to the UMAC Tournament Championship game at Bethany Lutheran College on Saturday with the 69-65 victory.
 
The Saints were held to 32 percent shooting from the floor in the second half, while Northwestern was at 47 percent. The January game at The Reif had the Saints shoot 54 percent in the first half and 37 percent in the second half and also end in a four-point defeat.
 
Top Performances for CSS
Newman led the Saints with a game-high 21 points with 15 coming in the first half. Dahlman finished with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Jarod Wilken had 10 points and four blocked shots.
 
Top Performances for the Opponent
Hageman led the Eagles with 15 points. Anderson Bazile Jr. had 13 points, including 10 in the second half. Brady Bellefeuille had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
End of Season
The Saints end with a 17-9 overall record. The team will say goodbye to three seniors: Zach Dahlman, Joe Stark and Dylan Zimmerman.
 
For future news about the St. Scholastica men's basketball program, keep checking csssaints.com.