Both teams are now tied on top of the UMAC regular season standings with one game remaining on the league schedule for both squads. Northwestern College will travel to Crown College and face the Storm on Tuesday, February 14th, while the Saints will pack their bags and head to Northland College also on Tuesday, February 14th. If both teams win or if both teams lose, they would share the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference regular season conference title. The Eagles have won the past 2 UMAC regular season titles and have claimed the bragging rights in the conference 4 of the past 5 seasons.
The first half began with Northwestern slowly building a 5-point advantage at 9-to-4 just 5 minutes into the game. The Eagles increased their lead to as much as 8 points at 18-to-10 at the 11:04 mark, but St. Scholastica responded with a 12-to-3 run to go in front 22-to-21 with just under 8 minutes to go in the half. After Northwestern momentarily took back the lead at 25-to-24, the Saints turned the momentum and strung together a 12-to-4 run to finish the half and boast a 36-to-29 advantage at the midway point.
Poor shooting plagued the Eagles in the first half as they hit just 9-of-27 (33.3%) from the floor and only 3-of-11 (27.3%) from three-point range. St. Scholastica dominated the post play and inside game, out-rebounding Northwestern 23-to-19. The Saints outscored the Eagles 20-to-6 in points in the paint in the first 20 minutes of play and also owned 15 second-chance points.
The second half started with St. Scholastica keeping control as the Saints opened up a 14-point lead at 48-to-34 with 13:19 remaining on the game clock in the league affair. Five minutes later, St. Scholastica remained in front on account of a 58-to-45 score as the Saints continued to deny any Northwestern College comeback attempts. The final stretch of the game featured St. Scholastica sealing the victory as the scoreboard read 78-to-53 in favor of the Saints when time expired.
Finishing the game shooting a season-low 36.8% (21-of-57) from the field, Northwestern was unable to ever find their groove offensively as the Eagles made only 4-of-18 (22.2%) from three-point range and were just 2 points off their season low. St. Scholastica was successful on 27-of-64 (42.2%) field goal attempts for the night. The Saints pulled down 48 rebounds, compared to just 35 for Northwestern, which led to a 38-to-20 difference in points in the paint in favor of St. Scholastica.
Senior Joseph Sir (Cresco, Iowa/Crestwood High School) led the Eagles, contributing a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Freshman Steve Discher (Andover, Minn.) added 10 points and 5 rebounds, representing the only other Northwestern player to reach double-figures for points. Andrew Schmitz (Hinckley, Minn./Central Lakes Community College) paced St. Scholastica with 14 points, while William Maupins (Rosemount, Minn./Mesabi Community College) recorded 11 points and 9 rebounds.
College of St. Scholastica Men vs Northwestern College Men 02/11/06 5:00 PM at St. Paul, Minn./Ericksen Center At St. Paul, Minn./Ericksen Center COLLEGE OF ST. SCHOLASTICA MEN 73, NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE MEN 58 COLLEGE OF ST. SCHOLASTICA MEN (14-10, 10-3 UMAC) Schmitz, Andrew 4-9 4-4 14; Johnson, Derek 3-15 6-6 13; Maupins, William 5-5 1-2 11; Jackson, Robert 3-12 3-5 9; Gosar, Josh 4-9 0-1 8; Taylor, Jesse 4-4 0-0 8; Schramm, Luke 3-7 0-0 6; Zubke, Brady 1-3 2-2 4; Friedlieb, Giles 0-0 0-0 0; McHale, Joey 0-0 0-0 0; Olson, Scott 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-64 16-20 73. NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE MEN (19-5, 10-3 UMAC) Sir, Joseph 7-13 3-4 19; Discher, Steve 3-9 3-6 10; Anderstrom, Mike 3-9 2-2 8; Hanson, Daniel 3-10 1-4 7; Strelecki, Josh 1-5 2-2 5; Baker, Caleb 2-3 0-0 4; Krehbiel, Josh 1-2 0-0 2; Zuleger, Dave 1-3 0-0 2; Cramer, Andrew 0-2 1-2 1; Olson, Andrew 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 12-20 58. College of St. Scholastica Men 36 37 - 73 Northwestern College Men...... 29 29 - 58 3-point goals-College of St. Scholastica Men 3-14 (Schmitz, Andrew 2-6; Johnson, Derek 1-8), Northwestern College Men 4-18 (Sir, Joseph 2-5; Strelecki, Josh 1-3; Discher, Steve 1-3; Zuleger, Dave 0-1; Cramer, Andrew 0-2; Hanson, Daniel 0-3; Anderstrom, Mike 0-1). Fouled out--College of St. Scholastica Men-None, Northwestern College Men-None. Rebounds-College of St. Scholastica Men 48 (Maupins, William 9), Northwestern College Men 35 (Hanson, Daniel 11). Assists-College of St. Scholastica Men 8 (Zubke, Brady 4), Northwestern College Men 9 (Zuleger, Dave 4). Total fouls-College of St. Scholastica Men 19, Northwestern College Men 22. A-694 The College of St. Scholastica defeated Northwestern College by a score of 73-58.