Notables
-CSS advances to play at Northwestern (Minn.) in a rematch of last year's title game
-Saints have won 10 of their last 11 games
-Deadrick matches a career-high with 22 points
-Points Off Turnovers: CSS-21, BLC-3
-CSS was 22-of-27 from the free throw line
MANKATO, Minn. (
csssaints.com) – After being swept by Bethany Lutheran College during the regular season, the St. Scholastica men's basketball team went on the road and led the Vikings for the final 39:25 of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament semifinal on Wednesday night to advance to Saturday's championship game by a final of 90-70.
Fast Start
The Vikings got on the board with a pair of free throws on their opening possession.
Kory Deadrick (Esko, Minn./Esko HS) responded with five straight points and
Julius Johnson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley HS) drained a 3-pointer to give St. Scholastica an 8-2 edge.
Another Deadrick 3-pointer extended the St. Scholastica lead to 11, four minutes in. With the Saints still up by 10 with 13 minutes left in the first half, the Vikings went on an 8-0 run to get back within two at 23-21. However, the Saints were able to maintain the lead and a pair of Deadrick free throws made it an 11-point game again with two minutes remaining before halftime.
CSS would take a 43-34 lead into the locker room. Deadrick scored 15 points in the opening 20 minutes of action, connecting on three 3-pointers. St. Scholastica scored 10 points off Viking turnovers in the half.
Leave No Doubt
Dylan Zimmerman (Elmdale, Minn./Upsala HS) scored the first points of the second half to move the lead back to double-digits. Bethany Lutheran answered to get it back to nine, but the Saints made sure that would be as close as the Vikings would get.
St. Scholastica followed with a 10-1 run, capped off by back-to-back
Collin Anderson (Eagan, Minn./Eagan HS) 3-pointers. The Saints kept rolling as they shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half.
The lead grew to as high as 28 before the Saints settled for the 90-70 victory to advance to the UMAC Tournament Championship game on Saturday.
Top Performances for CSS
Deadrick matched a career-high with 22 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Anderson added 18 points off the bench. Zimmerman finished with 16 points, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor.
Zach Dahlman (Braham, Minn./Braham HS) chipped in 10 points with five assists.
Top Performances for the Opponent
Brandyn Frelix finished with 14 points to lead the Vikings (17-9). Bradley Rose added 12 points off the bench.
Up Next
The Saints (17-9) move on to face regular season champion University of Northwestern (Minn.) in Saturday's UMAC Tournament Championship game. The Eagles defeated the University of Minnesota Morris 76-60 tonight. This will be a rematch of last year's title game in Duluth, where the Eagles won 93-70. Tip-off in St. Paul will be 7:30 p.m. Saturday night.
