Notables
- CSS sets a new program record with its 12th straight home victory
- St. Scholastica's 116 points were the most scored in a game since 2004 (118 vs. North Central-Program record)
- First game in CSS history that both teams eclipsed the 100-point mark
- CSS set a program record with 38 made free throws and tied a program record with 49 attempted free throws
- Stark tied a program record with 14 made free throws
- Naslund scored 25 of his 27 points after halftime
- CSS set a program record with most points scored in one overtime
DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team notched another mark in the win column Saturday afternoon after coming from behind to defeat the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets at the Reif Gymnasium in overtime by a score of 116-105.
First Half
The Saints found themselves down early in Saturday's game, showing signs of bad habits from earlier this year. They were trailing by a score of 14-6 with four minutes having gone by in the first half when they finally seemed to have settled down. The first four field goals made by UWS were three-pointers, which would be the motto for them in the half as they would post a 58 percent shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
The Saints started to crawl their way back into the game, working their way to within two points of the Yellowjackets with 13 minutes left in the half. They would start to slip again, however, as the Yellowjackets got eight straight points from Zach Schradle to help build up another comfortable lead. Brian Lindblom would then add eight points of his own between Schradle's eight and the end of the half, only to be balanced out by St. Scholastica thanks to the scoring duo of Connor Gray (Superior, Wis./Superior HS) and Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS). The two would score the last 11 points in the half for the Saints to help keep the game within reach. The half ended at a score of 51-39 in favor of Superior.
Second Half
The second half started very similar to the way the first half did, as both Schradle and Lindblom found their way to the basket on what seemed like every possession for UWS. After a technical foul was called on St. Scholastica, which was capitalized on by Superior with two made free throws and a basket afterwards, the scoreboard read 69-49 in favor of the Yellowjackets with under 15 minutes to go.
Newman wouldn't allow the lead to extend beyond 20, scoring on a fastbreak layup to try and give the Saints some momentum. The layup was followed by a minute and a half drought, however, as neither team was able to put the orange thing in the orange thing.
After the dry spell, the Saints called upon two of their captains to bring them back into the game. Naslund, who had been rather quiet in the first half, started to find his form. He broke the drought by knocking down a jumper just outside the paint with 12 minutes to go, bringing the Saints to within 16. He followed up his jumper with a three-point bucket the next possession down the court. Superior was able to find their groove again as well, hitting a few shots to try and stop the possibility of a St. Scholastica comeback, but Naslund wasn't quite finished yet. He continued to knock down shots, hitting one more from three-point land and one inside the paint within the next two minutes. Julius Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) also pitched in, scoring twice inside the paint and hitting a free throw to bring the Saints within eight with nine minutes remaining. Newman would proceed to hit two free throws, as well as a three-pointer to make the score 75-72 UWS with plenty of time left in the game.
The teams would go back-and-forth for the remainder of the half, both having explosive plays thanks to dunks from Schradle and Naslund, and eventually found the score to be 95-92 in favor of UWS with under 30 seconds remaining. Naslund would then hit a step-back three to tie the game with under 20 seconds to go, and UWS three-point attempt was off the mark as the game went to overtime.
Overtime
Joe Stark (Hayward, Wis./Hayward HS) would score the first bucket in overtime, giving the Saints their first lead of the night at 97-95. After grabbing the lead, the Saints didn't look back. Naslund continued to dominate, scoring eight more points in overtime on his way to a 27-point performance. St. Scholastica did the job on the defensive end as well, holding the Yellowjackets to just 10 points in the extra minutes. After a few sets of made free throws to clinch the game, the Saints found themselves victorious for the 16th time this season, winning by a final score of 116-105.
Free Throws
Both teams combined to shoot 91 free throws for the game. In the second half and overtime, the teams had 63 free throw attempts. UWS missed five in the second half, including three in the final two minutes, which proved costly.
Top Performers
St. Scholastica was led by Naslund, who poured in a career-high 27 points, hauled in six boards, and had a team-high four steals. Stark was the other Saint to eclipse the 20-point mark, scoring 22 on the night. Stark also had a great night from the charity stripe as he converted on 14 out of 16 attempts. Newman had a nice night for himself, scoring 15 points and grabbing six boards.
Superior was led by the duo of Schradle and Lindblom. Schradle had a game-high 36 points (18-24 FT), as well as a game-high seven assists. Brian Lindblom also had a monster night, recording 21 points and 16 rebounds.
Up Next
The Saints can clinch at least the No. 2 seed in the UMAC tournament with one win next weekend. They can also grab the No. 1 seed with a pair of wins as they finish out their regular season at home against North Central University Friday and conference leader University of Northwestern Saturday.
