01/06/06

The visiting Saints stretched a 54-45 halftime lead into a 17 point margin with just under 14 minutes to play in the game but were outscored 37-14 the rest of the way and fell to MN-Morris 96-90 in their conference opener at the MN-Morris P.E. Center on Friday night.

The high scoring affair saw four Saints and five Cougars reach double-figures. St. Scholastica was led by Derek Johnson's 20 points while Brendan McNally led Morris with a game-high 21.

Andrew Schmitz (19), Josh Gosar (18), and William Maupins (10) were the other Saints to hit the double-digit mark. Maupins was the game-leader in assists with 7 in the contest.

The Saints were able to grab a halftime lead mostly behind the perfect shooting of Johnson. He was 5 of 5 from the field including 3 for 3 behind the 3-point line, and a perfect 2-2 mark from the free throw line.

Johnson helped the Saints stretch their lead in the opening minutes of the second half by scoring 5 points in the first 1:20 of the period. They would be his last points of the game, though, as he would go 0-7 the rest of the way.

Maupins would put the Saints up by 17 with a tip-in at the 13:50 mark but the Cougars roared back behind runs of 13-0 and 9-0 to overtake the Saints and erase the halftime deficit.

The red-hot Saints of the first half -- nearly 64% shooting from the field -- went comparitively frigid in the second as they dipped below 40% including hitting only 3 of 16 three-pointers.

Their lack of success from the field after the intermission was certainly one of the major factors in the loss.The Saints out-rebounded Morris 39-36 for the game, and held the Cougars to only 3 of 10 shooting from the 3-point line in the second half.

However, along with their shooting difficulties, the Saints also turned the ball over 19 times.

With the loss the Saints two-game win streak comes to an end and the pre-season UMAC favorites are now 0-1 in the conference.