Northwestern outlasts St. Scholastica in OT for UMAC men's basketball tourney title
ST. PAUL, Minn.---It's a story that's been told time and time again in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) men’s basketball tournament championship game history – the University of Northwestern and the College of St. Scholastica going toe-to-toe to the very last second. Saturday's 2018-19 tourney title game was another classic with the No. 1 Eagles needing overtime to end the No. 3 Saints' season with a 92-89 decision to help the Eagles advance to the NCAA tournament.
St. Scholastica tied the game at 79-79 with two seconds left to force overtime in a scene that was slightly reminiscent of the four-overtime thriller between the two squads in 2016-17. However, the Eagles managed to hold off the Saints in overtime for their eighth conference postseason championship in the last nine years.
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Tournament Site |
Box Score |
Saturday's competitive contest started with the two teams exchanging leads twice before the Eagles went on a 10-0 run in a two-minute span to go up 11 points at the 9:57 mark of the first half. The Saints then went on a 12-3 of the their own minutes later to cut the lead to just one point with 5:30 to play and eventually regained a two-point lead with two minutes to go. The Eagles closed out the half with a 8-3 run to end the half with a 42-38 lead.
The Saints came out with the momentum in the second half to quickly build a four-point lead less than five minutes in. The two teams would continue to exchange leads as time winded down with neither going up by more than five points through the remainder of regulation.
With 2:07 to play, the Eagles appeared as if they may pull away with a 76-71 lead. The Saints answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game with 54 seconds before Jarod Wilken hit a layup with two seconds left to extend the Saints' season.
Tournament MVP Brady Peterson hit the first layup of overtime to put the Eagles on the board first in extra time and for the remainder of the game. The Saints would manage to pull within one point with four seconds left, but it wasn't enough in falling to the Eagles to end the season with a 16-11 overall record.
Peterson led all scorers dropping 33 points off the bench on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 performance at the line. He also picked up 11 rebounds for a double-double. The junior finished two tournament games with 52 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Tanner Youngberg added 17 points and 11 rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting for the Eagles in the win. Noah Alm also added 18 points off the bench, while Anderson Bazile, Jr., tallied 10.
Wilken led the Saints with 26 points and 10 rebounds with 11-made field goals. Brandon Newman and Nate Weets each added 15 points and Collin Anderson finished with 10.
This was the sixth-straight postseason meeting between the two UMAC powers with the Eagles claiming victory in all six including three in extra time.
The Eagles will represent the UMAC in the NCAA postseason tournament next week earning the conference's automatic qualifying bid. The Eagles will learn their postseason fate Monday at 11:30 a.m. during the Division III Men's Basketball Selection Show on
ncaa.com.
Playoff Schedule
Quarterfinal Round – Monday, Feb. 18
No. 4 Crown def. No. 5 Minnesota Morris, 78-71 |
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CC Recap |
UMM Recap |
Semifinal Round – Thursday, Feb. 21
No. 1 Northwestern def. No. 4 Crown, 106-85 |
Box Score |
CC Recap |
UNW Recap |
No. 3 St. Scholastica def No. 2 Bethany Lutheran, 95-88 |
Box Score |
BLC Recap |
CSS Recap |
Championship – Saturday, Feb. 23
No. 1 Northwestern def. No. 3 St. Scholastica, 92-89, OT |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
UNW Recap |
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.