DULUTH, Minn. – After a close win Tuesday night against Presentation College in the first round of the UMAC Tournament, the Saints face off against #1 seed Northwestern tonight. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Northwestern College.
The Records:
St. Scholastica Saints: (Overall 10-16)
Northwestern Eagles: (Overall 19-6)
GameDay On The Web:
Northwestern Live Video
Last Action: The Saints traveled to Presentation College on Tuesday night and won a close game 66-63 to stay alive in postseason play. The Saints came off the bus with clicking on all cylinders as they grabbed an early lead. The game was close throughout after Presentation went on a 13-0 run to rein the game back in. The Saints would end up hitting clutch shots near the end, with 3-pointers by #Danny Schmitz# (
Hinckley, Minn.) and #Jonah Dahlman# (
Braham, Minn.). Dahlman also sunk two free throws to give the Saints the final lead change of the night. #Brett Tester# (
Andover, Minn.) and Schmitz led the Saints with 15 points each. Tester also had a team-high seven rebounds. Dahlman finished with 14 points, seven of which came in the final two minutes. Northwestern had a bye in the first round of playoffs. The Eagles closed out their regular season with a convincing 79-69 victory over the Saints last opponent, Presentation College. With the victory the Eagles won their 15th straight game to break a program record and won their last 12 straight UMAC games. The Eagles jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they beat Presentation 79-69. Four Eagles scored in double figures. Stephen Hanson and Eric Garst led the team with 18 points. Reid Berens scored 14 points.
St. Scholastica Saints: The Saints have won two consecutive road games coming into tonight's game at Northwestern. Schmitz, Tester are averaging double figures on the year at, 13 and 11.5 per game respectively…Tester is the team's leading rebounder at 4.7 boards per game. Tester has scored double figures in 11 of the team's last 12 games, averaging 14.6 points per game and is averaging 5.5 boards per game over the last ten…Schmitz is averaging 17.5 points per game over the last six, scoring 20 plus points in three of those games. As a team the Saints are averaging 65.2 points per game and are giving up 71.6 points.
Northwestern Eagles: The Eagles have won 15 consecutive games and 12 straight conference games. Their last loss was December 15th against University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Over their last 15 games, the Eagles are averaging 77.8 points per game. Reid Berens and Stephen Hanson are the team's leading scorers at 14.5 and 11.4 points per game respectively…Eric Garst is averaging nine points per game and is shooting 44.8 percent from beyond the arc. In Garst's last two games, over the course of 24 hours he had 34 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, while committing only one turnover, en route to being named UMAC Player of the Week…Berens is the UMAC's fourth for scoring and tops for rebounding per game at 6.4 boards per game…As a team the Eagles are averaging 74.3 points per game and giving up 65.1 points per game.
Last Meeting: In the Saints' final home game of the year, the Eagles downed the Saints 76-68. The Saints did not lead in the game. The second half was back-and-forth, with the Eagles putting away the Saints late. Hamers had 22 points, Schmitz had 21 and Tester had 13 points and a team-high six rebounds. Reid Berens led the Eagles with 24 points. The Saints have stayed close in both games against the UMAC champions this year, losing both games by an average of 6.5 points per game.
