Box Score Box Score
DULUTH, Minn. – After struggling in the second half last night, the St. Scholastica men's basketball team pulled away from Presentation College in second half tonight to win by a score of 58-45 at Reif Gym.
CSS now has won five in a row and are over .500 for the first time since Dec. 13 with an 11-10 overall record. The Saints are also 7-3 in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) action. Presentation falls to 7-13 overall and 4-6 in the UMAC.
Presentation scored the first five points of the game, but CSS scored the next five to tie the game. However, Presentation would hang on to the lead until the final two minutes of the first half. A pair of #Jesse Taylor# (
Sr.-Superior, Wis./Maranatha Academy) free throws gave CSS the lead and #Danny Schmitz# (
So.-Hinckley, Minn./Hinckley-Finlayson) connected on a jumper with 41 seconds left as St. Scholastica went to halftime with a 28-24 edge.
It took five minutes for the first points to be scored in the second half as #Troy Miller# (
Sr.-Stillwater, Minn.) hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to seven. The lead got up to 11 after a pair of Miller free throws with 15 minutes left to play. Presentation went without a field goal for about nine minutes from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half.
Presentation got the lead down to eight and had a chance to cut it to six, but
Troy Miller (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) blocked a lay-up attempt and then #Chris Hamers# (
So.-Onamia, Minn.) on the proceeding possession drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 11. Presentation then got lead down to six with five minutes to go, but
Jesse Taylor (Superior, Wis./Maranatha Academy) hit a lay-up and was fouled. Presentation made just one field goal in the final five minutes as St. Scholastica won again 58-45.
CSS shot 41-percent for the game, while Presentation was held to 31-percent shooting. CSS, the eighth-best free throw shooting team in the country, shot just below its average at 75-percent.
Troy Miller (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) had 15 points to pace St. Scholastica. He and
Jesse Taylor (Superior, Wis./Maranatha Academy) tied for a team-high seven rebounds.
Danny Schmitz (Hinckley, Minn./Hinckley-Finlayson HS) added 13 points. Eric May had 10 points to lead Presentation.
The Saints will take their final conference road trip of the season next weekend when they face both Crown College and Northwestern College. The Crown game gets underway at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday night, following the women's game.
