Box Score ST. PAUL (csssaints.com) – Last Saturday, senior Steve Golobich (Mountain Iron, Minn./Mountain Iron-Buhl HS (Mesabi Range CC)) made news for making a 3-pointer at the end of the first half and from nearly full court. Today, he makes news by lifting the St. Scholastica men's basketball team into the UMAC Tournament as his 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds remaining gave the Saints a 51-50 victory over regular season conference champion University of Northwestern.

St. Scholastica needed the win too, as Bethany Lutheran defeated Crown 67-66. If the Saints had lost, their season would have ended. Instead, Bethany Lutheran's season came to a close with the CSS win.

Andrew Laughlin (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) put up a jumper in the first seconds of the game, but Michael Carney responded with a 3-pointer putting Northwestern ahead. The Eagles remained in front for the rest of the first half, but the Saints kept the margin within six. A Jake Naslund (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) 3-pointer made the halftime score 25-23 Northwestern.

Leading for the Saints was Naslund at 11 points followed by Laughlin with seven.  Steven Willey led for the Eagles with eight points. No free throws were attempted by either team for the half. Both teams shot below 40 percent from the floor, but Northwestern had 24 rebounds compared to the Saints with 10, including 10-0 on the offensive glass.

After the Eagles opened a six-point lead at the start of the second half, the Saints went on an 11-0 run to take their first lead since the opening moments of the game. CSS led 34-29 with 15 minutes remaining.

However later in the half, Northwestern fought its way back with an 11-0 run of its own and led 46-40 with 5:39 remaining. The margin was 49-42 with 4:31 to go.

The Saints didn't back down and held the Eagles to just one free throw the rest of the way. A Julius Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) 3-point play, followed by a Laughlin 3-point play cut the lead to two.

CSS had the ball down by two late and Naslund 3-point attempt was off the mark, but the Saints got the offensive rebound and found Golobich who drained a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Saints a 51-50 lead.

A Northwestern 3-pointer would be off the mark as the Saints punched their ticket into the UMAC Tournament with a 51-50 victory.

Naslund led the Saints with 21 points followed by Laughlin with 12 points. Laughlin also led the Saints with eight rebounds. Willey continued to carry the Eagles with 22 for the game.

Northwestern was held to 30 percent shooting for the game, while the Saints finished at 38 percent. CSS also committed fewer turnovers than its opponent for the fifth straight game.

The Saints (11-14, 8-6 UMAC) will be back at Northwestern (14-11, 11-3 UMAC) as the No. 4 seed in the UMAC Tournament on Wednesday for the tournament semifinals. Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m.