The Saints used a powerful second half surge to run away from visiting Crown College (4-16, 1-9 UMAC) in a 77-50 win for St. Scholastica (8-13, 6-4 UMAC) in front of 412 fans at the Burns Wellness Commons on Friday night.

 

Just before the end of the first half the Saints went on a 6-0 run that led to a 33-29 halftime lead. The lead had switched hands four other times and been tied eight times prior to the late push by the home team.

 

Crown opened the second half by retaking the lead but with 18 minutes and change to play, the Saints embarked on a storm surge of their own.

 

Down 36-33, St. Scholastica ran away from the Crown challenge by outscoring the visitors 44-15 the rest of the way.

 

Senior Brady Zubke (Laporte, Minn./Park Rapids Area HS) led the early portion of the run scoring 13 of the team's 17 points over the next seven minutes.

 

Junior Kyle Allen (Black River Falls, Wis./Black River Falls HS) took over for Zubke and picked up 10 points while freshman Chris Hamers (Onamia, Minn./Onamia HS) added a pair of three-pointers.

 

For the game the Saints shot 54 percent from the field and limited Crown to only 36 percent. They also out rebounded the Storm by a 38 to 20 margin.

 

Zubke finished with a game-high 19 points while junior Jesse Taylor (Superior, Wis./Maranatha Academy) added 14. Allen's 10 points rounded out the players in double-figures for the winning Saints.

 

Kincade Kirkpatrick led Crown with 16 points in the losing effort.

 

The win puts an exclamation point on the end of a four game losing streak for the Saints and coupled with Minnesota-Morris' loss to Martin Luther College, pulls St. Scholastica into a third place tie in the league standings with Martin Luther.

 

Next up for the Saints is a visit from conference-leading Northwestern College who comes to The Burns on Saturday with a 9-1 UMAC mark and 14-7 overall record.

 

 

 

**SAINTS**