DULUTH, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's basketball team will be the No. 3 seed in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament and will travel to Mankato to face second-seeded Bethany Lutheran College on Wednesday.
Where:
North Gymnasium – Mankato, Minn.
When:
Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Live Video: https://iframe.dacast.com/b/51317/c/75787
Live Stats: http://livestats.blc.edu/
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St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 16-9, 12-4 UMAC
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
Last Action: The Saints ended the regular season on a four-game win streak with a pair of road wins over the University of Minnesota Morris and Crown College over the weekend … In Friday's 93-84 victory over Minnesota Morris, the Saints trailed 16-0 to open the game, but rallied to tie it by halftime …
Kory Deadrick (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) connected on four consecutive 3-pointers with five minutes remaining in the second half as the Saints pulled away …
Brandon Newman (Barnum, Minn./Barnum HS) led the Saints with 18 points … In Saturday's 85-73 triumph over Crown College, Newman again led the Saints with 19 points …
Collin Anderson (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half.
UMAC Tournament History: Wednesday's contest will be the first time St. Scholastica will face someone other than the University of Northwestern (Minn.) in a road game in a UMAC Tournament semifinal … In road UMAC Tournament semifinal games the Saints are 2-4 all-time.
Back-to-Back Conference Success: With its two wins over the weekend, CSS has won at least 12 conference games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history
How will Newman Fare?: Newman is averaging 16.5 points per game this season and has scored at least 18 points in 11 games this season … That is the most in a season since Brett Tester during the 2011-12 season … However, Newman only averaged 11.5 points in the two losses against Bethany … That was his lowest average against any UMAC team this season … He shot a combined 6-for-21 from the floor in the two games.
Free Throws: Wednesday's contest will feature the top free throw shooting teams in the conference in terms of frequency … The Saints lead in the league with 447 free throw makes on 597 attempts … The Vikings are second at 429 makes on 596 attempts
Upcoming Opponents
Bethany Lutheran Vikings
Record: 17-8, 12-4 UMAC
Since falling at home to the University of Minnesota Morris on January 28, the Vikings have rattled off six straight victories to clinch the No. 2 seed in the UMAC Tournament … The win streak started with an 88-79 victory in Duluth over the Saints … The Vikings then defeated regular season champion Northwestern in the regular season finale on Saturday to hold off the Saints for that second seed … Bethany Lutheran is the highest scoring team in the UMAC, averaging 86.7 points per game (CSS is second at 83.4 per game) and is the best rebounding team in the conference grabbing 40 boards per contest … Senior Brandyn Frelix is the key for the Vikings … Frelix was third in the conference this season, averaging 17.4 points per game … He was second in the league averaging eight rebounds per game, finishing with eight double-doubles … He is tied for the conference lead with 118 free throws made … Guard Brady Rose has made nearly 50 percent of his 101 3-point attempts and fellow guard Neil Eichten is averaging 13.2 points per game … Rose had 19 points against the Saints in the win in Mankato … This is the first postseason game for the Vikings since the 2013 UMAC Tournament when they were also the No. 2 seed and fell in the championship game.
Series Record: BLC leads 16-13
(Last Meeting: 88-79 BLC – 2/3/2017)
Series History: The Vikings swept the season series from the Saints, winning by an average margin of 12 points … In the meeting down in Mankato, the Saints never led in the contest … In Bethany's victory in Duluth, the Saints led by 11 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, but the Vikings rallied and took the lead for good with 12 minutes left … This will be the first postseason meeting between the two programs since the 2009 UMAC Tournament Championship game in Duluth.
Looking Ahead: The winner of Wednesday night's contest will face the winner of the University of Northwestern and University of Minnesota Morris Saturday night at a location to be determined.
