Notables-Jake Naslund (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) scored all 11 of his points in the second half which led the team-Andrew Laughlin (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) also totaled 11 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double-CSS forced 10 turnovers in the game for 13 points
MANKATO, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team defeated Bethany Lutheran College by a final score of 51-50 in a game where every basket mattered.
CSS jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead early in the game, but then failed to score a basket for roughly the next eight and a half minutes which let the Vikings reach a seven point lead at 14-7 before
LaMonte Hall (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle HS (Saint Mary’s)) broke the dry spell with a 2-point jumper to set the score at 14-9 with 9:12 to go in the first half.
CSS would claw their way back into the lead at 20-19 when
Nathan Carlson (Alvarado, Minn./East Grand Forks HS) made a layup with 3:35 left in the half, but that lead would quickly return to Bethany Lutheran as they went on a mini 7-3 scoring run to take a 27-22 lead with 2:06 to go in the half.
David Ohnstad (Cushing, Wis./Grantsburg HS) would cut the Viking lead down to three with a jumper of his own and CSS would go into the halftime down 27-24.
The Saints would quickly take the lead with back to back buckets first a 3-pointer by Laughlin, then
Mike Spoden (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids HS) made a layup to put CSS up 29-27 with 17:10 to go in the game.
Bethany Lutheran would answer this 5-0 run with a 10-2 run of their own to take a 37-29 lead with 14:03 to go which proved to be the biggest deficit the Saints would face all game.
Without missing a beat CSS quickly answered back with back to back 3-pointers by
Julius Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) and
Tyler Rosenberger (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS), which was part of an 8-0 run to quickly tie the game with just under 12 minute left in the game.
CSS would build up a lead as large as just four points in the next five minutes after
Jake Naslund (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) scored three of his 11 second half points on a good 3-point jumper with 6:07 to go to set CSS up 46-42.
The Saints would have to fight to hold the lead late in the game as they survived a late 3-point play for the Vikings which cut their lead to just two, as well as a pair of Viking free throws with 44 seconds left.
Fortunately for CSS, Bethany Lutheran missed the second of the two free throws at the 44 second mark as well as a potential buzzer beating 3-pointer with five seconds to go as they narrowly edged out Bethan Lutheran by a score of 51-50.
Despite the final score, Bethany Lutheran's bench did outscore the bench of CSS 38-24, however, the CSS starters outscored the Viking's starters 27-11.
CSS (8-10, 4-3) will next take on Northland this Tuesday at 7:30 in Duluth on the CSS campus at the Reif Gymnasium. Come support the Saints in person or catch all the action live at Saints Sports Net.
