Vikings blow away Cougars, Eagles down Saints in UMAC men's semifinals
ST. PAUL, Minn.---After a competitive conference season, the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men's basketball tournament was set up for an exciting semifinal round with four teams that were fully capable of winning and providing entertaining competition.
In totally opposite ways, the results of Wednesday's contests couldn't have been expected as top-seeded No. 1 Bethany Lutheran College blew away No. 5 University of Minnesota Morris 112-69, while unlikely underdog No. 3 University of Northwestern knocked No. 2 College of St. Scholastica out of the tournament for the third-straight year with a 69-65 road win.
With the semifinal games completed, the stage is set for the championship game Saturday as No. 1 Bethany Lutheran hosts No. 3 Northwestern at 3 p.m. in Mankato, Minnesota.
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Tournament Site |
Semifinal 1 |
Semifinal 2 |
No. 1 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 5 Minnesota Morris, 112-69 |
Box Score |
The conference champs wasted no time in making quick work of the Cougars in order to punch their ticket to the tourney title game. After being down in the early minutes, the Vikings quickly silenced the Cougar 3-point attack before going on a massive run to take a 53-22 lead at the half.
The Vikings didn't let off the gas in the second half and surpassed the 100-point mark with more than five minutes left in the game before sealing the win. The victorious Vikings shot 60.3 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from 3-point range. Brady Rose fueled the offense going 6-of-9 from beyond the arc for a game-high 27 points. Trenton Krueger and Jake Dale each added 15 points, while Jared Milinkovich had 14 in the balanced team win.
The Cougars struggled offensively after making two 3-pointers to start the game and finished shooting just 37.1 percent from the field. Senior star CD Douglas capped off his remarkable career with 15 points. Noah Grove added 11 and Jeremy Halverson had nine.
No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 2 St. Scholastica, 69-65 |
Box Score |
For the third-straight year, St. Scholastica couldn't manage to shake Northwestern despite hosting the semifinal on its home court and a lead at the half. Early in the game, it seemed to be in jeopardy for the Saints as the Eagles quickly built an eight-point lead. However, the Saints pulled even several times and took a 37-33 lead into the half.
Throughout the second half, the Saints would start to build a lead but the scrappy Eagles wouldn't go away. With 6:26 remaining, the Saints were up five before the Eagles went on an 11-0 run to go up six. They eventually allowed the Saitns to get back within two before Caleb Hageman hit a jumper with 12 seconds left to seal the win.
Hageman led the Eagles with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting to fuel the offense. Brady Bellefuille recorded an impressive double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Anderson Bazile, Jr., and Tanner Youngberg each recorded double figures in the win. Brandon Newman of the Saints led all players with 21 points and Zach Dahlman finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Playoff Schedule
Quarterfinal Round – Monday, Feb. 19
No. 5 Minnesota Morris def. No. 4 Crown, 108-96 |
Box Score |
CC Recap |
UMM Recap |
Semifinal Round – Wednesday, Feb. 21
No. 1 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 5 Minnesota Morris, 112-69 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
UMM Recap |
No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 2 St. Scholastica, 69-65 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
UNW Recap |
Championship – Saturday, Feb. 24
No. 3 Northwestern at No. 1 Bethany Lutheran, Mankato, Minn., 3 p.m. |
Live Broadcast |
Ticket Information
All UMAC postseason events have the following set admissions prices: Adults, $7; college students and seniors, $5; youth (Age 6-18), $3; age 5 and under, FREE. Any UMAC students, faculty and staff are free with a valid and current institutional ID. No other passes will be accepted.
All tournament information including scores, recaps, team information and more can be found on the UMAC Men’s Basketball page. Keep up with all of the tournament action on Twitter and
Instagram using #UMACchamp.