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Salem

Coverage of the men's Final Four

2000 national semifinals game stories

UW-Eau Claire 70, Salem State 42
SALEM, Va. -- Sherm Carstensen scored a career-high 34 points to lead Wisconsin-Eau Claire to a 70-42 win against Salem State in the NCAA Division III semifinals. Eau Claire (27-5) advances to tomorrow's title game in its first-ever NCAA Division III Tournament appearance. Salem State (26-5) will play in the consolation game.

Joe Jacobson was the only other Eau Claire player in double digits with 10 points. Tishaun Jenkins had 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting to lead Salem State.

Carstensen struggled early in the game, missing his opening nine shots from the field. He knocked down a three pointer at the 9:51 mark, and went on to score all 34 of his points over the next 22:10 of game action. The junior guard finished 13-of-30 from the field, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, and had a game-high four steals.

The junior scored the first 15 points of the second half and was 9-for-15 from the floor, 3-for-6 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes.

Salem State struggled to hit shots in the game, posting a .286 pace from the field in the opening half. The Vikings finished with a .346 mark from the field in the game, and committed 25 turnovers. Eau Claire was just 28-for-72 (.389) from the field in the game, and just 6-for-24 (.250) from three-point range but committed just three turnovers.

Trailing 8-7 in the opening seven minutes of the game, Eau Claire went on a 17-6 run over the next 8:18 to open a double-digit lead. The teams traded baskets on their next two possessions, and the Blugolds maintained at least a 10-point lead in the rest of the game.

Eau Claire will face Calvin at 5:00 pm in the Salem Civic Center on Saturday, while Salem State will play Franklin & Marshall at 2:30 pm in the consolation game.

Calvin 79, Franklin & Marshall 77
SALEM, Va. -- Freshman Bryan Foltice hit a running 12-foot jumper as the buzzer sounded to lift Calvin to a thrilling 79-77 win against Franklin & Marshall in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III championships.

Aaron Winkle led four Calvin players in double digits with 19 points. Jeremy Veenstra added 15, Foltice had 13, and Nate Karsten netted 12 for the Knights. Alex Kraft had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead four F&M players in double figures. Jerome Maiatico had 16, Grant Sporny finished with 12, and Casimer Thomas netted 10 for the Diplomats.

Franklin & Marshall was behind for most of the second half, and never led after the 15:24 mark. Trailing 46-41 with 16:16 remaining, Calvin used a 12-0 scoring run over the next 2:37 to take a lead they did not relinquish.

The Diplomats were down seven in the final four minutes and used an 8-1 run over a 3:45 period to knot the score at 77-77. Following a miss by Maiatico, Thomas grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a shot in the lane with 6.4 seconds to tie the score at 77-77. After a Calvin timeout, Foltice drove the length of the court to hit the game-winner.

"We knew Foltice was left-handed and tried to force him right," said Franklin & Marshall head coach Glenn Robinson. "Somehow, right at the end, he popped open."

"Coach told us to get the ball to me and advance it up the court as fast as possible," said Foltice. "There were two guys spotting up on the wing for jump shots, and fortunately I never looked at them."

Both teams knocked down more than half their shots in the game. F&M was 27-of-52 (.519) in the game, 14-of-23 (.609) in the second half. Calvin was just behind with a 29-of-56 (.518) clip in the game, and a 15-of-26 (.577) tally in the second half.

Calvin (29-2) will face Wisconsin-Eau Claire (27-5) in the NCAA Championship game tomorrow at 5 p.m. Franklin & Marshall (25-6) will face Salem State (26-5) in the 2:30 p.m. consolation game.

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