Notables -The Saints will be the No. 4 seed in the UMAC Tournament and face top-seeded Northwestern on Wednesday in the UMAC semifinals
-The Saints never trailed by more than five points in the game-CSS had eight different players score at least one basket-CSS out-rebounded Martin Luther 53-37, 23 of which were offensive rebounds
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team finished the regular season off with a 63-59 win over Martin Luther College Saturday night solidifying their place in the UMAC playoffs.
Martin Luther jumped out to an early 9-4 lead behind a 3-point play by Luke Rothe that put MLC in front with 17:18 to go in the half.
The Saints would respond by shaving the lead down to one point after a good jumper by
Jake Naslund (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) with 14:45 to play, but failed to actually take the lead until the 10:27 mark when
Joe Stark (Hayward, Wis./Hayward HS) sunk a 3-pointer to put CSS on top 17-15.
After surrendering the lead for a short time at the 10 minute mark, CSS would go up on Martin Luther by as much as just four points for the rest of the half. Martin Luther managed to go on a small scoring run at the end of the half and the halftime score saw a tie game at 29 apiece with the second half set to determine the winner of this final regular season game.
It took over three minutes for the first bucket of the second half to be scored, but once it was it ignited a frenzy for both teams. Martin Luther took the lead at 31-29 with 16:45 left in the half to get the scoring started, but the next 3:20 saw four ties and one lead change as both teams played very good basketball.
It was at the time of the final tie that CSS started to take control of the game. With the score tied at 41-41 and 13:28 left on the clock, the Saints embarked on an eight minute, 17-5 scoring run that put CSS up by 12 points with just over five minutes left in the game.
Martin Luther would try and mount a comeback in the final minutes of the game, but it proved too little too late as the victory was shaved to four points after a last second desperation 3-pointer by Martin Luther as the Saints came away with a 63-59 victory.
Andrew Laughlin (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS) finished the game with a double-double scoring 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbing 10 rebounds, seven of which were on the offensive side of the court.
Tyler Rosenberger (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake HS) added 13 points of his own on 5-of-8 shooting including going 3-of-4 from the behind the arc.
CSS (12-13, 8-6 UMAC) finished the regular season in a tie for third in the UMAC standings, but will be the No. 4 seed in the UMAC Tournament and face top-seeded University of Northwesrern on Wednesday in St. Paul. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
