Duluth, MN. – The St. Scholastica Men's basketball team closed out the Loras Tip-off Classic in a hard-fought matchup against Simpson College (IA). The Saints found themselves down by double-digits at the halftime break and despite outscoring Simpson by nine points in the second half, a last-second shot secured a Simpson victory, as the Saints fell 87-85.
How it Happened
First Half
Tanner Thomson (Woodbury, Minn./Stillwater HS) kicked off the Saints' offense in the first half with a three-pointer to give the Saints their first lead of the game. Thomson would get another three-pointer to fall and after an
Aaron Keykal (Princeton, Minn./Princeton HS) layup four minutes into the half, the Saints trailed by just two points.
Following Thompson's third three-pointer of the half, layups by
Jacquez Overstreet (Appleton, Wis./Oshkosh West (Marian University)) and an and-one by
Bryce Shoto (Owego, Il./Oswego East Highschool), the game sat tied at 16-16.
The Storm would go on a quick 5-0 run before Thomson and Shoto scored again.
Moe Washington (Silver Spring, Md./Hibbing Community College) would nail a jumper on the Saints' next possession, reclaiming a 22-21 lead at the 10:45 mark.
Simpson College began to pull away from CSS in the middle part of the first half, as
Kai Penney (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo Highschool) was able to score his first points in a Saints uniform on a pair of free throws, but the Storm led 33-28.
After Shoto scored on back-to-back possessions for the Saints,
Kobe Karels (Cambridge, Minn./Isanti (Aurora University)) made presence felt to end the first half, scoring the Saints' last seven points, as they went into the halftime break trailing 52-41.
Second Half
Koy Nelson (Port Wing, Wis./South Shore HS) scored the first field goal of the second half for the Saints with a three-pointer, followed by a tip-in layup from Penney and a layup from Keykal to make the score 64-51.
The Saints' offense went to work with themselves being down double-digits. Keykal would convert an and-one, followed by a successful trip to the line by Thomson and
Andre Crockett Jr. (Rochester, Minn./Mayo HS (Rochester Community College)) drilling a three-pointer and another jumper, with the Saints trailing by just three points.
Karels would score once again on a three-pointer at 10:54 to make the score 65-64 in favor of Simpson.
Shoto and Nelson would get things all tied up at 73-73 with under eight minutes to play, with Shoto knocking down a jumper and a layup and Nelson nailing his second three-pointer of the half.
After the game was tied at 78-78, Penney scored four points in under a minute to give the Saints a one-point lead.
Thomson and Crockett Jr. scored the final field goals of the game for the Saints, giving themselves an 85-84 lead with just one possession left for Simpson. Unfortunately for the Saints, a last-second three-point attempt would have been good, as the Saints fell in the last seconds of this game by a score of 87-85.
Top Performers
Bryce Shoto (Owego, Il./Oswego East Highschool) led all CSS players with 17 points, as the redshirt freshman also shot 66.6% from the field.
Tanner Thomson (Woodbury, Minn./Stillwater HS) recorded 15 points to accompany a team-leading three steals in the contest.
Kai Penney (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo Highschool) notched eight points in the game, while also grabbing six rebounds and recording the team's only blocked shot.
Kobe Karels (Cambridge, Minn./Isanti (Aurora University)) shot 80% from the field, knocking down a pair of three-pointers to score 10 points in just 10 minutes off the bench.
Up Next
The Saints (0-2, 0-0) will be back in action on Thursday, November 14, they will travel to Superior, Wisconsin to take on the Yellowjackets of UW-Superior. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
