02/03/07

Battling to stay among the top four spots in the conference standings, St. Scholastica pulled a game closer to the team ahead of them with an 82-71 win over the visiting Martin Luther Knights late Saturday afternoon at the Reif Center.

The fourth place Saints (8-12, 5-4 UMAC) cut the gap with the third place Knights (9-11, 7-3 UMAC) with Saturday’s win as both teams cling to two of the four postseason conference tournament berths.

The frantic first half saw eight lead changes before the Saints would wrest control of the game with a Will Maupins 3-pointer that gave them a 21-20 lead at 9:52 of the first half.

Maupins’ three started a 12-0 run that pushed the Saints toward a 10 point halftime lead.

Martin Luther began cutting into the lead in the opening five minutes of the second half, closing to within two points at 52-50, but a pair of 3-pointers by senior Derek Johnson gave the Saints some breathing room.

St. Scholastica opened up a double-digit lead over the remaining minutes of the game, eventually closing out the win with an 11 point margin over the Knights.

Johnson had a game-high 28 points for St. Scholastica and attempted a team record 19 three-point field goals. He finished with eight of the team’s 11 three-pointers on the day.

St. Scholastica scoring leader Will Maupins also reached double figures adding 21 points and just missed what would have been his seventh double-double of the season after pulling down a game-high nine rebounds in the victory.

The Knights were lead by Jake Schwartz’ 17 points and Caleb Kurbis’ seven rebounds in the loss.

Three of St. Scholastica’s five remaining games are against teams behind them in the UMAC standings. One is with the conference leader, Northwestern College, and the other is with the lone team tied with the Saints in the standings, Presentation College.