Box Score DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team picked up a big conference win Friday night, defeating Crown College 75-63 at the Reif Gymnasium.

The Saints entered the night a game behind both Crown and Bethany Lutheran for fourth in the league. After tonight, the Saints are in a three-way tie with those schools, which is important because only four teams make the postseason tournament.

There wasn't much action early as the score read 4-4 six minutes into the contest. Crown would take a 15-14 lead after the conference's leading scorer Bryce Williams drained a 3-pointer. However, that would be the last lead for the Storm.

The Saints responded with a 10-3 run to go up 24-18 with five minutes to go in the half. Steve Golobich (Mountain Iron, Minn./Mountain Iron-Buhl HS (Mesabi Range CC)) then drained a pair of 3-pointers in the final two-plus minutes to give CSS a 32-24 lead at the half.

St. Scholastica was 5-for-6 from the beyond the arc in the first half, while the Storm were just 2-for-14. The CSS bench outscored the Crown bench 17-2.

The Saints kept it rolling to start the second half as Garret Pearson (Rush City, Minn./Rush City HS) scored on an easy layup on the opening possession. The Saints built their lead to 14 at one point, but Crown would try to hang around.

A key point in the game came with over five minutes remaining when the Storm cut the lead to seven. Crown had a chance to cut into the gap even more, but missed a jumper and the Saints' Andrew Laughlin (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) quickly converted a basket to make it 63-54. CSS would ultimately go on a 9-2 run at that point to pull away and win 75-63.

The Saints shot 48 percent for the game, while holding Crown to 36 percent from the floor.CSS was 8-of-13 from beyond the arc and Crown was only 5-for-29. The Saints bench outscored Crown's 16-2 for the game.

Laughlin and LaMonte Hall (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle HS (Saint Mary’s)) each had 12 points to lead the Saints. Golobich and Jake Naslund (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) each added 11 points. Roland Owczarek had 15 points to lead the Storm (9-13, 6-5 UMAC).

The Saints (9-13, 6-5 UMAC) will host the University of Minnesota Morris tomorrow for Senior Day at the Reif Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. The action can be seen live on Saints Sports Net.