02/25/06

Never before had St. Scholastica won or shared both a regular season title and post-season tournament crown, until tonight.

The #1 seeded Saints dispatched  the #4 Bethany Lutheran Vikings with an 83-64 victory at the Reif Center on St. Scholastica’s campus in Duluth, Minn. Junior, guard Andy Schmitz from St. Scholastica was named the Tournament MVP.

St. Scholastica got off to a quick start in the opening half, building up to a 25-10 lead as the half passed its midway point. Balanced scoring from the Saints was the key as four players registered at least four points each.

Bethany’s Alfonso Mayfield spurred a comeback from the Vikings, though. As the half wound down to it’s closing seconds, the Vikings found themselves behind by only seven, Mayfield’s game-high 15 points leading the charge.

Early in the second half, Bethany was unable to cut into the lead but the Saints weren’t able to extend it either. Then, with 14:14 to play, Derek Johnson nailed a 3-pointer for the Saints to up the lead to double-digits and the Saints wouldn’t look back.

Another 3-pointer from Johnson ignited a 10-0 run beginning at the 8:52 mark in the game that pushed the margin to 25 in favor of the Saints.

Mayfield spun, slashed and did all he could to bring his Vikings back but his game-high 27 points weren’t enough as St. Scholastica celebrated the tournament victory in front of a raucous home crowd over the closing moments.

Schmitz and Brady Zubke led the Saints in scoring, each with 19. Johnson added 17 and Robert Jackson scored 11 coming off the bench. William Maupins was the game’s leading rebounder with 14 while Josh Gosar tied a season high with 11 boards for the Saints. As a team, St. Scholastica out rebounded the Vikings 49-35.

After Mayfield’s game leading 27, Bethany’s next highest scorer was Travis Priem who chipped in with 13. Part of the problem for the Vikings on the night may have been their 33% shooting from the field. Mayfield and Priem were the only players to score in double-digits, and after taking away Priem’s contributions, Mayfield outscored the rest of his teammates combined.

Schmitz’ MVP honor came after co-leading the Saints in points in the Championship final, and leading them with 22 in their semi-final victory over Minnesota-Morris. He added 7 rebounds in the semis and another 4 tonight while finishing the tournament with a combined 7 assists and 3 steals.

Tonight’s tournament title is the second by the Saints who last won the tournament in 2004, entering it as the #4 seed. Northwestern College won the regular season that year and the Saints defeated the #1 seed in the semi-finals on the way to their first championship final where they defeated #3 seed Presentation College, 67-53.

St. Scholastica and the Eagles from Northwestern shared this year’s regular season crown, as they did the last time the Saints finished atop the UMAC standings in both the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons.

Bethany Lutheran made a miraculous turn-around in making the championship final this year. Last season the Vikings finished last in the UMAC with a lowly 3-22 overall record and 2-12 mark in the UMAC. Their 9-5 conference and 12-13 regular season records made them the most improved team in the confer­ence this year.