Box Score DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead and held off Finlandia University (Mich.) to earn its first victory of the year by a score of  78-66 Saturday night at Reif Gymnasium.

The Saints started out quick with the hot hand of Chris Hamers (Onamia, Minn./Onamia HS) who scored nine of the first 16 points.  The Saints mixed up zone and man defense while disrupting the Finlandia guards to cause several turnovers which allowed the Saints to extend its lead throughout the half.

Both teams played more soundly for the rest of the half as the Saints took a 34-24 lead into halftime.  Both teams shot 40-percent from the field while St. Scholastica had the edge from the charity stripe going 4-for-5 (80%) while the Lions were 2-for-7 (28%).

The second half was just the same with both teams being physical in the paint and on defense.  The score would eventually be tied up at 41-41 with 14:22 left in the contest.  The Saints would then go on a 13-to-2 run and would never look back and closed out the game in spectacular fashion with two monstrous slam dunks by MarShaan Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis North HS (Minneapolis Comm. & Tech. College)) to win 78-66.

The Saints were led by Hamers and Brett Tester (Andover, Minn./Andover HS) who each had 18 points.  The Saints got a spark off of the bench with Derek Steve (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Apollo HS) who chipped in with 13 points.  Jonah Dahlman (Braham, Minn./Braham HS) added nine points while Johnson finished with eight.

The Lions had four players in double figures with Keith Arnold leading the way scoring 16 points.  The other players in double figures would score 15, 14, and 10 points, respectively.

For the game St. Scholastica finished 29-for-54 (53.7%) from field goal range and 6-for-15 (40%) from beyond the arc.  The Saints also went 14-for-21 (66.7%) from the free-throw line.

Finlandia (3-7) would finish 26-for-60 (43%) from the field and only 4-for-17 (23.5%) from behind the arc.  The Lions would also finish the game 66.7% from the charity stripe (10-for-15).

St. Scholastica (1-6) will face UW-Superior next Saturday in Superior.  Tip time for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m.