Junior guard Grant Shaeffer scored a game-high 19 points and St. Thomas made 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:15 to advance to the program's second men's basketball national championship game with Friday night's 66-62 win over No. 4-ranked Christopher Newport.

The No. 8-ranked Tommies (29-3) improved to 5-0 in the NCAA tournament over the last 15 days, including four wins over top-20 ranked teams. They face unbeaten Benedictine (32-0), a 63-60 winner over Amherst. Tipoff for the NCAA title game is 5 p.m. Minnesota time at the Salem Civic Center, with live TV on cable and satelite on the CBSSports Network.

Tommie senior forward Taylor Montero had a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, including 10 second-half points. He added four steals.

Senior backup center Cullen Ogren had career highs with 10 points and nine rebounds, and senior guard Cortez Tillman scored 11 points.

Ogren played a career-best 27 minutes to help spell Ryan Saarela, who was in foul trouble and picked up his fifth foul with 3:17 remaining. Ogren came into the contest with just 50 varsity points and 53 rebounds in 39 career games before Friday, with a previous high of 19 minutes played.

St. Thomas outscored the Captains (30-2) 19-3 at the foul line as it sank 19-of-24 to CNU's 3-of-11. Both teams had 12 turnovers, but UST had a 40-35 rebounding edge.

A 10-0 run over the final 2:10 of the first half lifted UST into a 33-25 halftime lead. St. Thomas never trailed in the second half but the Captains cut the lead to four in the final minute.

The Tommies overcame a rare 1-of-8 shooting game behind the arc -- its lowest number of made 3-pointers in 115 games. The Toms made 31-of-57 treys in its previous four NCAA playoff victories. 

Aaron McFarland had 16 points and Tim Daly added 15 points and 10 rebounds for CNU, playing it its first Final Four.

St. Thomas has been in nine Final Fours in men's and women's basketball and improved to 3-6 in semifinal games. The Tommie men took fourth in 1994 when John Tauer was a junior forward; won the 2011 championship; and tied for third in 2013. The St. Thomas women won the 1991 title; and placed third in 1995, 1996; 2000 and 2012.

Friday's basketball win came exactly four months to the date of the Tommie football team's 49-35 loss to Mount Union in the Stagg Bowl national title game played 200 yards away in Salem.