| St. Mary’s (Minn.) athletics photo by Emma Benjamin, eb.sports_ |
The Cardinals of St. Mary’s (Minn.) came into the fourth quarter down by 20 and won, while North Park’s men outlasted Wheaton (Ill.), Augsburg won on a freshman’s pair of free throws in the closing seconds and more as Tuesday night provided some thrills in Division III basketball conference tournament action.
With their NCAA Tournament hopes potentially hanging in the balance, Saint Mary’s (Minn.) completed a remarkable comeback and ended the game on a 27-0 run to defeat Hamline in the first round of the MIAC tournament, 59-52.
The Pipers dominated the first three quarters and led 52-32 following Emma Lamppa’s three-pointer to close the third period. That was the last time Hamline scored, as the Cardinals shut out the Pipers in the fourth quarter, holding them to 0-for-10 shooting with eight turnovers and no free throws. Meanwhile, the Cardinals fed off their home crowd and overtook the Pipers on Lindsey Lettner’s three pointer with 1:43 to play. Brianna Nusbaum, who scored a game-high 24 points, added three free throws down the stretch to seal ice the improbable victory.
Saint Mary’s (20-6) entered the day in position for the last at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, a precarious spot at the start of a championship week likely to produce upsets along the way. Hamline (19-7) was just two spots behind the Cardinals for that spot.
The other MIAC first round matchup was surprising in a different way, with Bethel blasting St. Scholastica, 87-57. Saints beat Bethel in their first match-up and lost by just six in the second. This time, Emily Erickson scored 25 point in just 23 minutes for Bethel (20-6), and the Royals led 48-15 at the half.
Saint Mary’s heads to top-seed Concordia-Moorhead while Bethel will go to Gustavus Adolphus in the MIAC semifinals.
As is often the case, the first full night of women’s tournaments largely produced comfortable wins for the higher seeds.
No. 10 John Carroll was the only Top 25 team in action, and the Blue Streaks eased past Oberlin, 62-45 in the NCAC first round. DePauw took down Wittenberg, 68-31, thanks to 21 points from Olivia Hart and a stingy defense that held Witt to 11 field goals against 19 turnovers.
The Blue Streaks, who are in good position for an at-large bid, will play Ohio Wesleyan at the NCAC semifinals hosted by top-seed Denison. The Big Red will play DePauw on the other side of that bracket.
Allyia Kennedy tallied seven of her 21 points in overtime, and Elizabethtown outlasted Drew, 80-72 in the Landmark Conference’s first round.
Drew took a 64-61 lead late in the fourth quarter on Gianna Pica’s three-pointer, only to see the Blue Jays tie the game 20 seconds later thanks to Ella Gordon’s three-pointer. Makenna Mummert, who had 28 points for Etown, opened the extra period with a layup and Kennedy took over from there. She posted 21 points and 17 rebounds for Elizabethtown (19-7) which draws undefeated Scranton in Thursday’s semifinal.
The lowest seeds advanced in the CCIW, Liberty League and SUNYAC. Jenna Hunter scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Wheaton (Ill.) past North Central (Ill.), 75-67, setting up a matchup with CCIW top seed Carroll on Friday.
Skidmore held RPI to 18 field goals and ousted the Engineers from the Liberty League tournament, 50-42. The Thoroughbreds only shot a little better than RPI (36 percent to 28 percent) and were outrebounded by seven, but Skidmore doubled up RPI in the third quarter, 16-8, and that proved to be the difference.
The SUNYAC will have another Battle of the Red Dragons in its semifinals since SUNY Oneonta knocked off SUNY Canton, 67-55, behind 18 points apiece from Lidia Boucher and Carlie Young.
Tuesday night’s men’s action
After 17 ties and 13 lead changes, it was finally CCIW No. 4 seed North Park outlasting No. 5 Wheaton in double overtime as the Vikings got past the Thunder 107-100. Mike Vuckovic scored 23 of his 26 points in the second half and stepped up big when Kolden Vanlandingham fouled out at the beginning of the final overtime. In fact, three Vikings fouled out, but not before Vanlandingham, Lazario Cornish and William Bates scored 19, 17 and 16 points apiece. North Park improved to 16-10, while Wheaton’s season ended at 13-13. North Park advances to play at Illinois Wesleyan in the CCIW semifinals, while No. 3 Elmhurst will play No. 2 Carthage after getting past No. 6 Carroll 95-85.
Augsburg freshman guard JJ Semanko scored a game-high 25 points, but none were bigger than the two free throws he drained with four seconds left to play as the No. 6 seeded Auggies got past No. 3 seeded St. Olaf on the road, 69-68. Semanko scored 21 points in the second half and seven points in the final minute of regulation. He also came away with a crucial rebound on an Ole miss with ten seconds left on the clock. In the MIAC’s other first round game, No. 4 Concordia-Moorhead rolled past No. 5 Carleton 74-52, winning an MIAC playoff game for the first time since 2004. The Cobbers got a combined 46 points and 29 rebounds from post players Jacob Cook and Jackson Loge. Cook logged a 26-point, 14-rebound double-double, while Loge scored 20 and collected 15 boards.
Mason Dopirak scored a career-high and NACC tournament record 46 points as his top-seeded MSOE Raiders rolled past Lakeland 99-82 in the conference quarterfinals. He exceeded his previous career high by 10 points, shooting 15-for-22 from the field, 4-for-7 from three-point range and a perfect 12-for-12 from the line. The senior now has 2,144 points for his career. The Muskies cut a double-digit deficit down early in the second half before Dopirak began to heat up as he hit 13 of the Raiders’ next 19 points to lead by 15 with 11:01 to play. Dopirak then hit another three with 5:39 remaining, going up 83-65. He would then seal the game with a layup with 3:02 to go, leading by 20, to advance to Thursday’s semifinal with No. 5 seed Marian.
Even without their head coach, Plattsburgh State got a big win on the road as the No. 5 seeded Cardinals got past No. 4 seed SUNY New Paltz in overtime in the first round of the SUNYAC tournament. Head coach Mike Blaine was not at the game because of a medical emergency, but his team got a career-high 22 points from Mari Johnson, 21 points from Reem Welch and 20 from Elijah Morris in getting the road win. The teams were deadlocked at 75-75 with 2:12 remaining in regulation. The Hawks (13-13) broke the tie with a triple from Matthews, but Johnson answered with a three of his own, sending the game to overtime tied 78-78. The Cardinals (13-12) grabbed the lead in overtime and never surrendered it, as back-to-back layups from Welch gave Plattsburgh an 82-78 advantage with 3:29 to play. The Hawks cut the lead to two, but a triple from Screen, followed by an 8-0 spurt, extended the Cardinals’ lead to 93-82 with less than a minute remaining. That proved to be the difference, as Plattsburgh sealed the 97-88 overtime victory with free throws.
A week after falling to Lancaster Bible in the regular season finale, Penn State Harrisburg’s returned the favor by knocking off the top-seeded Chargers 72-57 on their home floor in the semifinal round of the United East Conference tournament, punching its ticket to Saturday’s conference title game in the process. The Lions (17-10) were led by a dozen points each from Jordan Spencer and Kevin Lucas Jr. Antwone George flirted with a double-double, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Dylan Moore tallied 11 points and six boards. It’s No. 4 seed Harrisburg at No. 3 seed Cairn for the United East final on Saturday.
Nate Tucker saved the best for last, as the senior tallied a career-high 30 points in his final game inside the MTI Center to lead Trine to a 94-77 win over Albion to advance to the MIAA semifinals. The Thunder (19-7) outscored the Britons (14-12) 50-32 in the second half to post the convincing victory. Trine shot 59% from the floor in the win and will go on to face top-seeded Olivet in the conference semis. Calvin posted similar numbers in winning the conference’s other first round game, as the Knights defeated Adrian 105-65. Thirteen Calvin players scored, led by 21 points from Jalen Overway.
The higher seeds advanced in the WIAC tournament, as UW-La Crosse reached the 20-win mark by edging UW-Stout 87-83. The Eagles will play in the conference semifinals for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. UWL (20-6) never trailed, but the Blue Devils got as close as 78-76 with 3:11 left, when Jacob Butler connected on a three-point field goal to make it 81-76 with 2:49 remaining. AJ Uttech’s jumper cut it to 81-78 before two free throws by JJ Paider restored a five point lead for UWL. Wesley Mboga’s tip-in with 1:11 cut the deficit to 83-80, but UW-Stout (9-17) could get no closer. The teams traded turnovers before Paider’s dunk off a Derousseau steal and assist gave UWL a 85-80 lead with :18 remaining. Paider connected on a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left.