Notables
-CSS finishes first half on 17-1 run
-Newman scores 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half
-CSS was 21-of-25 from the foul line

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DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team bounced back after Friday night's tough loss by defeating the University of Minnesota Morris 88-77 on Saturday in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) action at the Reif Gymnasium.
 
Morris in Front Early
The Cougars, who were also coming off a loss on Friday night, led for most of the first half. Morris hit five 3-pointers in the opening 12 minutes of the game and was shooting over 70 percent. Morris climbed its lead to nine on three separate occasions.
 
CSS Run to Close the First Half
Morris led 31-22 with seven minutes remaining in the first half. However, Tyler Ukkelberg's 3-pointer with 7:45 remaining was its final field goal of the half.
 
Four straight points from Nate Weets (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet HS) cut the margin to five. Kory Deadrick (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) followed with a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game. Following a Cougar free throw, Marc Peterson (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) came off the bench and drained back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Saints a three-point lead.
 
Deadrick later hit a jumper and Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) scored on a putback as time expired in the half to give the Saints 39-32 halftime lead. If you were counting, that was a 17-1 run to close the first half.
 
Saints Maintain Lead in Second Half
The Cougars cut the lead to four in the opening minute of the second half, but the Saints went on an 8-2 run extend it back to 10. Joe Stark (Hayward, Wis./Hayward HS) scored nine straight points in a two minute time span, including a four-point-play as the Saints led by 19 with under 12 minutes to go.
 
Morris stayed in it, however, and got the deficit back down to eight with five minutes to go and had possession. The Cougars were squaring up a 3-point attempt at the top of the key, but Deadrick came out of nowhere to block it and then took it the other way for the lay-in and got fouled in the process to convert the three-point-play. Newman followed with a 3-pointer on the next possession to essentially put the game away as the Saints went on to win 88-77.
 
Top Performances for CSS
Newman led the Saints with 21 points, 15 of which came in the second half. Deadrick just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Peterson had 12 points, all on 3-point field goals. Stark finished with 11 points and Julius Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) had four assists.
 
Top Performances for the Opponent
Noah Grove had 20 points to lead the Cougars (8-7, 4-4 UMAC). Ukkelberg finished 19 points and the conference's leading scorer, CD Douglas, was held to 15 points.
 
Up Next
The Saints (8-8, 5-3 UMAC) will host conference leader the University of Northwestern (Minn.) next Friday at the Reif Gymnasium with a 7:30 p.m. start time. The action can be seen live on Saints Sports Net.