On Senior Night in The Burns on Tuesday night, St. Scholastica did their part in trying to earn one of the four berths in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference postseason men's basketball tournament, picking up an 84-67 win over visiting Northland College in a game that the Saints led from start to finish.

 

Senior Andy Schmitz got the ball rolling with 21 points on 7-of-10 three point attempts in the opening 20 minutes. He had 18 points in the first 10 minutes before Northland (3-22, 1-13 UMAC) was able to put the clamps down on him.

 

That of course opened things up for the rest of the team as they raced out to a 44-29 halftime lead.

 

With Coach Staniger substituting freely in the second half the 15 point lead at the intermission didn't change much during the final half, eventually turning into a 17 point win that pushed St. Scholastica (11-14, 9-5 UMAC) into a second place tie in the UMAC final standings.

 

Schmitz finished his career on the floor at St. Scholastica with a game-high 26 points and fellow senior Brady Zubke (Laporte, Minn./Park Rapids Area HS) added 20 more and six rebounds. Also playing in their last game at The Burns were seniors Nate Griff (Milwaukee, Wis./Bay View HS), Jordan Horejsi (Little Falls, Minn./Little Falls Community HS), Owen Johnson (Two Harbors, Minn./Two Harbors HS), Eric Langdon (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet Senior HS), and Akente Ward (Milwaukee, Wis./St. Francis HS).

 

Northland was led in their losing effort by Joey Brennan's 15 points and Dylan Ring's 10 points.

 

The UMAC tournament begins this Friday at top-seeded Northwestern, but the Eagles have no idea who's joining them at the party. After Tuesday night's results, four teams vying for three spots finished at 9-5 in the league.

 

The Saints, Martin Luther College, Minnesota-Morris, and Bethany Lutheran College are all knotted up and will have to wait until Wednesday for the determination of seeds or other possible outcomes decided upon by the conference.