2012-2013 College Recap

Almost lost amid the excitement of the girls and boys high school tournaments the past 2 weeks was the  continuation of college playoff action from D1 through the junior colleges. I'll start with something you didn't know.

Junior Colleges

The Anoka-Ramsey and Northland Community College women played in the NJCAA D3 tournament at Rochester. ARC lost in the 1st round to Montgomery College, MD 84-77, then won 2 games to finish in 5th place. Kelli Schramm, from Mounds View, earned all-tournament honors.

Northland also lost in the 1st round to Roxbury CC, MA 72-65, and finished 7th.

Rochester CTC played in the men's tournament in New York and lost all 3 games to finish 8th. Justyn Galloway, from Kenosha, WI, won all-tournament honors.

D3

The St. Thomas men and women are both done for the year.

The men got to the D3 semi-finals before losing to Mary Hardin-Baylor 74-67. St. Thomas led 54-40 at 10:22 of the 2nd half before ripped off a 23-8 run to take the lead at 63-62. St. Thomas led 67-66 with 36 seconds left but Hardin-Baylor hit 8 FT down the stretch.

The Tommies, rated #1 going into the post-season, finish at 30-2. Mary Hardin-Baylor plays Amherst for the national title next week.

The women got to the Sweet 16 before losing to Hope 71-61. The unranked Tommies led #2-ranked Hope 32-31 at the half and 50-49 at 8:44, but Hope put a 12-2 run on the Tommies to pull away. Hope shot 57 percent, St. Thomas just 42. The Tommies finished 24-6.

D2

The Winona State men are the last Minnesota basketball team still standing, well, this side of the Minnesota Timberwolves. They will meet #1 rated West Liberty on Thursday afternoon of this week in the Elite Eight. The Warriors defeated Mankato State 76-73 at Mankato to advance to this round of play. If Winona wins on Thursday, the semi-final is Saturday. The national championship will be played on Sunday, April 7.

Senior post Clayton Vette leads Winona with 21 ppg and 8 rebounds. Xavier Humphrey adds 11 points and 2 assists, Grant Johnson 11 points, and Taylor Cameron 10 points, 5 boards and 3 assists.

Winona is rated just #28 in the final D2 poll, but defeated #6 Mankato to advance.

Gopher Men

The men defeated UCLA 83-63 in the NCAA tournament, then lost to Florida 78-64 to finish 21-13 incluring 8-10 in the Big 10. And coach Tubby Smith was fired.

Gopher Women

Then there's the Gopher women who lost to Ball State at home in the NIT 54-51 to finish 18-14 including 7-9 in the Big 10. And coach Pam Borton was not fired.

Coaches Corner

In 6 years as Gopher coach Tubby Smith won 124 games while losing 81 (.610). In the Big 10 he went 46-62 (.426). In 10 years as Gopher coach, Coach Borton has won 189 games while losing 132 (.589). During the past 6 years she is 102-90 (.537). In the Big 10 for the past 6 years she is 45-57 (.441).

Top College Players

C- Clayton Vette, Winona State men
C- Tommy Hannon, St. Thomas men
F- Taylor Hall, Bethel men
G- Andre Hollins, Minnesota Gopher men
G- Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women

2nd Team

C- Assem Marei, Mankato State men
F- Ali Wilkinson, Mankato State women
F- Annika Whiting, Concordia (St. Paul) women
G- John Nance, St. Thomas men
G- Rachel Hanson, Concordia (St. Paul) women

College Coach of the Year

1. Mike Boschee, Bemidji State men
2. Mike Leaf, Winona State men
3. John Tauer, St. Thomas men
4. Mandy Pearson, St. Mary's women
5. Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women

The Big Game March 1: St. Thomas women 64 Calvin 62

The St. Thomas women have been up and down this year, at least by Tommie standards. After getting to the NCAA D3 Final Four a year ago, the Tommies lost 3 in a row and 4 of 6 in January to finish 18-4 and in 2nd place in the MIAC. But a win at Concordia (Moorhead) in the MIAC playoff final set things closer to right.

And now! The unranked Tommies knocked off #3 rated Calvin (23-3) 64-62 Friday night at Mt. Vernon, IA, to establish that another Final Four run is firmly in their sights. The D3Hoops Web site (not to be confused with the NCAA Web site) called it a "dramatic win" for St. Thomas and a "heartbreaking loss" for Calvin, and why not? Calvin led 62-55 with 2 minutes to play, but the Tommies fought back to within 62-61, and then Jenna Dockter drained a 3 with 9 seconds left for the win.

In fact, the Tommies had to rally twice, 1st from a 6-point deficit to lead 55-53 with 6 minutes left. Then, after a 9-0 Calvin run, came the final, game-winning surge. Kellie Ring hit a 3, then Dockter hit the 1st of 2 FT. She missed the 2nd but got her own rebound and fed Taylor Young for a lay-up to make it 62-61.

It is the 2nd straight year that St. Thomas has ended Calvin's season. Last year it was 83-72 in OT in the Elite 8. Earlier this year, Calvin beat St. Thomas 78-72, and earlier yet the Tommies beat Calvin in the D3 volleyball championship game. And now St. Thomas has again won when the chips were down as Young scored 19, Dockter 15 and Ring 10. Dockter added 4 assists and Ring 5 steals, while Kelly Brandenburg scored 8 and led the Tommies with 9 boards.

St. Thomas now plays #12 Cornell IA (25-1) 7 p.m. tonight at Cornell (Mt. Vernon, IA) for the right to advance to the Sweet 16.

Player of the Day: Rashad Vaughn, Robbinsdale Cooper boys; Porter Morrell, Elk River boys; and Carlie Wagner, New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva girls all scored 36 points. Cooper and Elk River needed all of it: Cooper edged Spring Lake Park 80-77 and Elk River rallied to a 62-57 win over Centennial. Wagner out-scored Blue Earth all by herself in a 63-28 rout.

Coach of the Day: Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women, gets a head start on Coach of the Month honors. A win tonight and a couple next weekend are probably needed to put her in the running for Coach of the Year. Don't bet against it.

5 Minnesota Teams in D3 Tournament

5 Minnesota teams--3 women's and 2 men's, and 3 MIAC and 2 UMAC--have been selected to play in the 2 (men's and women's) 64 team NCAA D3 championship tournaments. Those teams are:

The Men

• The St. Thomas men are 26-1 and rated #1 nationally, so they'll open at home against Aurora (22-6).

• Northwestern (Roseville) men, regular and post-season champs of the UMAC, 21-6 and unrated. They will open at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The Pointer men are 21-5 and #14 nationally.

As long as the Tommies are victorious they should retain the home court (until the quarter-finals, anyway) while St. Scholastica seems destined to stay on the road as long as they keep winning.

The Women


• Concordia (Moorhead) women, regular season champions of the MIAC at 19-3, go into the NCAA tournament 21-6 overall. They are the only at-large selection among the 5. They too will open at Wisconsin-Stevens Point 23-5, #21, though on Friday versus the men's game on Saturday. The Pointers won their 6th straight WIAC playoff title by defeating regular season champion Wisconsin-Whitewater 78-71 in OT. The winner of Friday's game will play the winner of Simpson versus Westminster, MO, at Stevens Point on Saturday.

• The St. Scholastica women advance as the UMAC post-season champs, with just a 13-14 record overall. They open on Friday with Cornell (IA), 24-1 and #14, at Mount Vernon, IA, where Calvin is the host school.

• The St. Thomas women stumbled in January and therefore are 22-5 but rated just #36, and they open on the road Friday at Calvin, 23-3, #3. The 2 met in the season-opener for both schools with Calvin winning 78-72. The 2 also met for the D3 volleyball title last fall with St. Thomas winning that one, 3-2. The Calvin-St. Thomas winner will play the Cornell-St. Scholastica winner on Saturday.

Discussion


Storylines include 1) the most peculiar post-season format ever seen. In honor of the 75th anniversary of the NCAA championships, D1, D2 and D3 finals will all be held April 7 and 8 in Atlanta. That means that the men's D3 tournament will sprawl out over a 6-week period. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds are on successive Saturdays March 2, 9 and 16, all at the higher remaining seeds.

The Elite 8 and Final 4 will be played Friday and Saturday March 22 and 23 in Salem, VA. 2 winners will emerge from there, and will play for the championship TWO WEEKS LATER in Atlanta. What a stupid arrangement. 6 games in 6 weeks. The champion will be the team that can stay awake for the whole affair.

The 2nd storyline for us Minnesotans is St. Thomas, St. Thomas, St. Thomas. 1 for the men, 1 for the women and another for the obvious overkill. Can't anybody here beat these people? But now that they've advanced (and let's be honest, Concordia and St. Scholastica are not going to get the job done), let's see if they can (no, let's cheer for them to) repeat their success of 2 years ago (when the men won the national title) and a year ago (when the women made it to the Final Four).

The women, by the way, play a normal timeline. 2 games this weekend, 2 next weekend, and 2 the weekend after that, at least for the 2 finalists.

In summary, I expect the Tommies men to win a bunch of games, while the Tommies women? If they can get past Calvin, they could win a bunch, too, but NCAA did them no favors making them play the #3 team on the road in the 1st round. Still, they're playing well of late and a victory is hardly out of the question. Everybody else is probably one a done.

The Big Game Feb. 22--#1 and #2 Concordia and St. Thomas Women Advance to MIAC Finals

Concordia (Moorhead) pulled away from a 29-29 half-time tie to defeat St. Ben's 64-48, while St. Thomas never trailed St. Mary's in winning 69-60 in MIAC women's semi-final games Thursday night.

Concordia went on a 19-3 run midway in the 2nd half to ice it. Tricia Sorenson scored 19 points with 8 boards, while Alexandra Lippert also came up big with 17 points, 9 boards and 2 blocks. The Cobbers dominated the offensive glass 12-3 with 14 2nd chance points to just 6 for St. Ben's.

St. Thomas also used a big 2nd half run to stretch a 57-56 lead to 69-56 at 1:01. Jenna Dockter scored 19 for the Tommies, including a pair of buckets to launch that 12-0 run. Anna Smith had 14, 9 boards and 4 assists. Jamie Stefely scored 17 for St. Mary's.

Player of the Day: Rachel Banham hit the game winner at :02 as the Minnesota Gopher women completed their 1st ever season sweep of Ohio State 57-56. The Gophers had a 5 point lead and the ball with 24 seconds remaining, but turned it over twice at :24 and :17. The Buckeyes' Raven Ferguson hit a pair of 3s to give OSU its 1st lead since 6-4, but then Banham scored her 16th and 17th points of the night.

Coach of the Day: Chad Ostermann, picking up where Tim Anderson left off, led the #5 Maple River boys to a 62-61 win at #4 St. Peter.

The Big Game Feb. 20--Northwestern (Roseville) Splits UMAC Playoffs

Northwestern (Roseville) hosted not 1 but 2 UMAC playoffs Wednesday night. The women hosted Martin Luther at 5:30 and the men Minnesota-Morris at 7:30. The result was, well, near disaster.

The women fell behind by 10 early in the 2nd, clawed back to within 51-49, then fell behind by 15 with just 2 minutes remaining. The game, or at least the 2nd half, was not as close as the 78-72 final.

The men followed by falling behind 41-27 then 47-38 at the half. It looked like a bad night for Northwestern. But the men roared back to take a 49-48 lead early in the 2nd half, and even pulled ahead by 10, 66-56, at the 10 minute mark. Now it was UMM that roared back to tie at 76. But Wade Chitwood and Tom Gisler scored the next 5 points and Northwestern never again trailed. Even so, Steve Birman of UMM launched a 3 with 8 seconds remaining that would have tied the game, but missed. Brendan Foss grabbed the rebound but UMM was unable to get off another shot.

Player of the Day: The top players both excelled in a losing cause. Mollie Sir of Northwestern scored 27 points with 9 assists and 2 steals, while Foss of UMM scored 19 with 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals.

Coaches of the Day: Here I'm gonna pick Aaron Greiss, Augsburg men, and  Guy Kalland, Carleton men, winners of tonight's MIAC playoffs. Augsburg led most of the way in beating St. John's 74-67. Carleton edged Bethel 48-43, after blowing a 25-13 (!) half-time lead and trailed 39-35 with 4:12 to go. Taylor Hall of Bethel ended his career as the top MIAC scorer on the night with 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds.

The Big Game Feb. 19--At least 7 rated high school teams lose

At least 7 rated high school teams lost last night.  There may well be more.

Boys

#6AAAA Minnetonka lost to Edina 78-54 despite 24 points by Tonka's Riley Dearring
#7AA Byron lost to Lake City 60-43
#9AAAA Lakeville North lost to #1AAAA Apple Valley 94-78 despite J.P. Macura's 39 points

Girls

#3AAAA Eastview lost to Lakeville South 58-53 as Maddie Wolkow scored 20 points for South
#5AAAA Edina lost to #6AAAA Minnetonka 49-42
#6AA Staples-Motley lost to #1AAA Fergus Falls 52-44

Player of the Day

Macura

Coaches of the Day

Mandy Pearson, St. Mary's (Winona), and Mike Durbin, St. Ben's, led their teams to wins in the 1st round of the MIAC women's playoffs.

Long-suffering St. Mary's roared back from a 45-36 half-time deficit to beat Gustavus Adolphus 76-69. That means that St. Mary's won the 2nd half 40-24, and at one point in the 2nd had outscored the Gusties 39-14. Abby Rothenbuhler, Gustavus, led all scorers with 18, while Jamie Stefely led St. Mary's with 16 and 7 boards.

St. Ben's also came back from a 1st half deficit to Hamline, but the Blazers had caught up by half-time at 34-31. The final was 88-77. Brianna Barrett scored 28 for St. Ben's with 6 rebounds and 3 steals. St. Ben's out-scored Hamline in the paint 48-26 and from the FT line 26-10.

MIAC Playoff Preview

It has been in many ways a remarkable MIAC season, especially for the women. Concordia won its 1st regular season title since 1990. St. Mary's, in 3rd at 18-4, has in both respects had its best season since 1986. Hamline at 14-8 also has won the most conference games since 1986.

Among the men, this is the 1st time Gustavus has ever missed the post-season playoffs (which were 1st held in 2001). It is also the 1st time Gustavus has finished outside of the top 6 in the regular season standings (6 teams make the MIAC post-season playoffs) since 1984.

Da Men

In fact, half of the men's playoff teams were not in the top 6 in the coach's pre-season poll. St. Olaf, picked to finish 2nd, dropped all the way down to 8th at 8-12, and Gustavus, picked 5th, and Hamline, picked 6th, also missed out. Bethel and St. John's, tied for 7th in the pre-season poll, and Concordia all fought their way into the playoffs. The Cobbers utterly baffled their opposing coaches--picked to finish 9th, they instead finished in 2nd place. Hamline's season was wrecked by a legal problem that led to the departure of coach Nelson Whitmore.

Modesty does not prevent me from pointing out that I had Gustavus and St. Olaf out of the playoffs in my pre-season forecast, but I also had Augsburg and St. John's out. Still, I had 4 of 6 right versus the coach's 3 of 6. And how the coaches could have had Concordia 9th...I had 'em 2nd and that's where they now sit, and that makes Rich Glas coach of the year. But enough gloating, here's how the playoffs match up.

1st Round Wednesday Feb. 20

#6 St. John's 12-13 at #3 Augsburg 19-6
#5 Bethel 15-10 at #4 Carleton 15-10

2nd Round Friday Feb. 22

Lowest remaining seed at #1 St. Thomas 24-1
Second lowest remaining seed at #2 Concordia (Moorhead) 18-7

Finals Sunday Feb. 24 at highest remaining seed

The obvious question is whether anybody can compete with St. Thomas, and the obvious answer probably is, No. The Tommies can score in bunches, but even if you slow 'em down, the problem is scoring some points yourself. In a close, half-court game, the Tommies' defense takes over. Center Tommy Hannon and guard John Nance are the ring-leaders there, while on offense 10 guys can score. And having home court throughout, the #1 nationally-rated Tommies look like as close to a sure thing as you'll see.

If anybody can compete it would have to be the misunderestimated Cobbers, who gave St. Thomas their only loss 54-52 in Moorhead on Jan. 21, and finished up on a 7-game winning streak. The Tommies outscored their MIAC opponents 82-60, leading the league on both ends of the court. The Cobbers are #2 on offense at 77 points per game, but give up 72. Center Jacob Huus and 3-point shooting specialist Andrew Martinson match up OK but everywhere else the Tommies defense is a deal-breaker most of the time.

But 1st Concordia will have to get by Augsburg, Carleton or Bethel. Bethel, with probable MIAC MVP Taylor Hall, could surprise. He was recently named the #3 player in all of D3 by Breitbart Sports, and #13 among all non-D1 players. He led the MIAC is points (22), boards (10) and was among the leaders in FG shooting (57 percent).

It says here that Bethel wins at Carleton, while Augsburg defeats St. John's. That means that Augsburg goes to Concordia, and that's a tough match-up for the Cobbers. Center Dan Kornbaum was right behind Hall with 18 ppg and 8 boards, and he shot 59 percent. And while almost nobody shoots 3s like Martinson, Augsburg's top 2 3-point shooters, Tyler Schmidt and Parker Hines, combined for 84 on 38 percent 3-point shooting, comparing favorably with Concordia's Martinson and Aaron Lindahl (86 on 43 percent shooting).

Still, while Augsburg beat Concordia by 5 at home, the Cobbers won by 20 in Moorhead.

So I look for Concordia and St. Thomas in the final, and the Tommies are not going to lose at home. The real question is how far St. Thomas can go nationally. Anything short of the Final Four would be a disappointment.

All-Conference

C- Dan Kornbaum, Augsburg, 6-9, junior, 18 pts, 8 reb, 59FG%, 1 blk
C- Tommy Hannon, St. Thomas, 6-8, senior, 11 pts, 6 reb, 59.5FG%
F- Taylor Hall, Bethel, 6-8, senior, 22 pts, 10 reb, 57FG%, 3 asts, 2 blks
W- Scott Theisen, Carleton, 6-6, senior, 17 pts, 7 reb, 6 asts, 2 stls
G- Ebo Nana-Kweson, Concordia, 6-4, senior, 14 pts, 3 asts, 1 blk

Da Women

The big surprise was St. Thomas finishing 2nd, 1 slot lower than predicted. I know 1 slot isn't much, but you've got to remember that the Tommies made it to the Final Four a year ago. Expectations were that high. But St. Thomas was without all-conference post Maggie Weiers all year, and all-conference forward Taylor Young started the year hurt and only came around slowly. So the Tommies lost 3 of 4 in 1 stretch in January. But they finished with 7 straight wins and Young was player of the week for the next-to-last week of the season. So despite the 2nd place finish, the Tommies look like the favorite in the post-season.

But Concordia has the home court as long as they keep winning, and they've got Trish Sorenson and Emily Thesing, both among the MIAC's top 10 scorers.

But the best story of the season is St. Mary's, returning to the playoffs for a 2nd straight year after winning just 31 games while losing 103 the previous 6 years. 6-1 bookends Courtney Eurele and Jamie Stefely lead the way, along with senior guard Jessica Thone. Coach Mandy Pearson is my choice for coach of the year.

Hamline is another good story. They are the only team not in the coach's pre-season top 6 to sneak into the playoffs (at St. Olaf's expense). Steph Pilgrim and Jordan Sammons finished #1 and #3 in conference scoring.


1st Round Tuesday Feb. 19

#6 Gustavus 15-10 at #3 St. Mary's 21-4
#5 Hamline 14-11 at #4 St. Ben's 19-6

2nd Round Thursday Feb. 21

Lowest remaining seed at #1 Concordia (Moorhead) 20-5
Second lowest remaining seed at #2 St. Thomas 20-5

Finals Saturday Feb. 23 at highest remaining seed

Gustavus will give St. Mary's a scare. An interesting sidebar there is the reunion of Gustavus guard Julia Dysthe, from White Bear Lake, and Thone, from Woodbury, who were Suburban East Conference rivals. St. Ben's should win easily. That leaves St. Ben's to go to Concordia and St. Mary's to St. Thomas. I'll take St. Ben's in a surprise, then St. Thomas over St. Ben's in the final.

All-Conference

C- Rachel Parupsky, Bethel, 6-2, freshman, 16 pts, 9 reb, 4.5 blks
C- Abby Rothenbuhler, Gustavus, 6-2, senior, 12 pts, 8 reb, 2 blks
F- Trish Sorenson, Concordia, 5-11, senior, 14 pts, 7 reb
G- Jordan Sammons, Hamline, 5-8, sophomore, 15 pts, 8 reb, 3 stls
G- Jessica Thone, St. Mary's, 5-8, senior, 12 pts, 4 asts, 2 stls

The Big Game Sat. Feb. 16--MIAC Playoff MatchUps Set

Hard to believe that for half of MIAC teams the basketball season is now over. 6 men's and 6 women's teams advance to the post-season and we now know who they are and where they'll go.

The 2 biggest games of the day were wins by the Hamline women and the Bethel men. Hamline jumped from #6 to #5 as a result of their win, while Bethel leapfrogged Gustavus for the final spot in the men's field with their win (though they too ended up with the #5 seed due to a tie-breaker).

The Hamline women won at Carleton 66-60 in OT as Steph Pilgrim scored 22 points to win the MIAC individual scoring title. Jordan Sammons added 18 and finished 3rd. Pilgrim made 6-of-6 throws in OT, and added 9 boards. Sammons scored 4 points in OT.

The Bethel men edged Macalester 77-60 while Gustavus was losing at Concordia 65-49. The Gusties, Bethel and St. John's all finished 11-9 and Gustavus was odd man out on about the 7th tie-breaker. Taylor Hall had 17 points and 15 boards for Bethel.

As a result of Saturday's action, the playoffs are as follows:

Women

1st Round Tuesday Feb. 19

#6 Gustavus 15-10 at #3 St. Mary's 21-4
#5 Hamline 14-11 at #4 St. Ben's 19-6

2nd Round Thursday Feb. 21

Lowest remaining seed at #1 Concordia (Moorhead) 20-5
Second lowest remaining seed at #2 St. Thomas 20-5

Finals Saturday Feb. 23 at highest remaining seed

Men

1st Round Wednesday Feb. 20

#6 St. John's 12-13 at #3 Augsburg 19-6
#5 Bethel 15-10 at #4 Carleton 15-10

2nd Round Friday Feb. 22

Lowest remaining seed at #1 St. Thomas 24-1
Second lowest remaining seed at #2 Concordia (Moorhead) 18-7

Finals Sunday Feb. 24 at highest remaining seed

Players of the Day: Steph Pilgrim, Hamline women, and Taylor Hall, Bethel men

Coach of the Day: Kerri Stockwell, Hamline women

The Big Game Feb. 13--St. Mary's women 70 St. Ben's 62

St. Mary's and St. Ben's both went into Wednesday night's game at 16-4 and tied for 2nd place in the MIAC. St. Mary's came away with a 70-63 win, still tied for 2nd and in contention for a 1st round bye in the playoffs. The host Cardinals took the lead for good on a 3 by reserve Shelby Auseth at 44-43 at 14:42, and led by as many as 12 down the stretch. Jessica Thone led all scorers with 20 and added 4 assists and 3 steals. Morgan Dale had 17 points and 8 boards for St. Ben's.

Player of the Day: Derrick Williams, Minnesota Timberwolves, 24 points and 16 rebounds in a 97-93 home loss to the Utah Jazz.

Coach of the Day: Mandy Pearson, St. Mary's women

The Big Game Feb. 9--Melrose boys 89 Lakeview Christian 86

Not the rout that some predicted. Melrose led by 11 at the half, but Lakeview tied it up at 83. Melrose led 87-86 and won 89-86. Anders Broman scored 42 points, Bjorn Broman 28 and Scottie Stone of Melrose scored 28.

My original choice as game of the day proved not to be so competitive. St. Thomas women 65 St. Ben's 46.

Player of the Day: Anders Broman 42 points
Coach of the Day: Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women, now 4 wins in a row after 3 straight losses

The Big Game Feb. 6--St. Ben's 69 Concordia (Moorhead) 63

St. Ben's climbed into a tie for 1st place in the MIAC with a 69-64 home win over Concordia (Moorhead). Concordia led 33-29 at the half, but St. Ben's dominated the 2nd half to pull out the win. Overall, the Bennies shot 45 percent to the Cobbers 35 percent, and St. Ben's made 5-of-10 3s. Whitney Canton led the way with 17 points, 7 boards, 3 assists and 4 steals.

Player of the Day: Canton
Coach of the Day: Mike Durbin, St. Ben's

The Big Game Feb. 3--Minnesota Gopher men 62 Iowa 59

The Gopher men were lucky to escape Iowa at the Barn. Trailing 59-55 at the 2 minute mark, Minnesota got a layup by Joe Coleman and then a big 3 from Austin Hollins to lead 60-59 with just 11.6 seconds remaining. He then stripped Mike Gesell, and Andre Hollins hit a pair of throws for a 3 point lead. Gesell's tying attempt came off the front rim at the final buzzer.

Minnesota outshot the Hawkeyes 45 percent to 36, but Iowa made 7 3s to 4 for the Gophers and also had more points in the paint 18-12. Neither team led by more than 4 in the 2nd half.

Austin finished with 17 points, Andre with 15, Coleman 12 and Rodney Williams 10.

Player of the Day: Austin Hollins. Team of the Day: Concordia (Moorhead) women won at St. Mary's 64-54 to stay in 1st place in the MIAC at 16-2. Coach of the Day: Jessica Rahman, Concordia (Moorhead) women.

The Big Game Jan. 30--Wednesday means MIAC

MIAC playoffs are a mere 2 1/2 weeks away. Some MIAC teams have just 2 weeks left of their basketball seasons. (Say what?) And if the playoffs had started yesterday, the Carleton men would have snuck in at #6 and Gustavus would have been out. Meanwhile, the Hamline and St. Olaf women were tied for the 6th and final spot.

Today the Gusties men are in and Carleton is out, while Hamline has taken over sole possession of #6 among the women.

Gustavus men 82 St. Mary's 43 and St. Thomas men 74 Carleton 52

Hapless St. Mary's (now 2-12) were no match for the Gusties in St. Peter, and Carleton is no match for the awesome Tommies (14-1) anywhere. Ben Biewen contributed 13 points, 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals for the Gusties. John Nance led St. Thomas with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

Hamline women 52 Macalester 43 and Concordia (Moorhead) women 65 St. Olaf 58

Hamline won the bragging rights to Snelling Avenue as well as a lead in the battle for the 6th and final playoff spot. Kara Poirer and Steph Pilgrim combined for 29 Piper points while Poirer added 5 assists and Pilgrim 3 blocks. Emily Thesing led 1st place Concordia with 20 points.

Sidebar: The Gustavus-St. Mary's women's game, won by host St. Mary's 65-58, matched high school rivals Julia Dysthe of White Bear Lake and Gustavus and Jessica Thone of Woodbury and St. Mary's. In 2 years of high school ball, Thone's team won 3 times while White Bear Lake won twice but including the rubber match, the Section 4 final of 2009, earning a spot in the state tournament.

Player of the Day: Steph Pilgrim, Hamline, leading scorer among MIAC women.

Coach: Mark Hanson, Gustavus

The Big Game Jan. 26--St. Thomas women on the skids

The St. Thomas women lost for the 3rd straight game (and 4th of 6) to fall into a tie for 4th place in the MIAC. These are the same Tommies who came into the season as prohibitive favorites after finishing 22-0 in the conference a year ago, 31-2 overall with 30 straight wins, and a trip to the D3 Final Four. They started this season 11-1, 9-0 in the MIAC and rated as high as #3 nationally. Suddenly St. Thomas had lost 3 games at St. Ben's, at Concordia and at St. Mary's. All 3 losses not only came on the road, but to the top 3 teams in the conference standings as of today.

Now comes a shocking loss at home to 6th place Hamline (8-7). The Pipers took an early 20-11 lead, but the Tommies came back to within 3 at the half and took the lead 38-36 at 12:13. But Hamline scored the next 13 points, 8 of them by Steph Pilgrim, and the Tommies never got closer than 8.

Each team had 13 turnovers, yet Hamline out-scored St. Thomas 19-3 on points off turnovers. The offensive boards were 18-11 Hamline and the 2nd chance points 15-8 Hamline.

Maggie Weiers remains out with an injury for St. Thomas. Taylor Young is back from early injury troubles, but fouled out with 0 points, 4 boards and 4 turnovers.

Meanwhile the top high school game of the day saw the Maranatha girls win at Upsala 70-68 despite 28 points by Upsala's Aimee Pelzer.

Player of the Day: Taylor Hall, Bethel men, 6-8, senior forward, scored 37 points and added 14 boards, 4 assists and 3 blocks as Royals edged Carleton 74-73. Bethel is now 8-6 in the conference, Carleton 7-6.

The high school player of the day is Graham Woodward of Edina who scored 33 in a 78-68 win over St. Paul Johnson.

Coach of the Day: Paul Fessler, Concordia (St. Paul) women, who won their 5th straight, and took over sole possession of 1st place in the Southern Division at 11-3 as Augustana lost at Mankato State 78-73 to drop to 10-4. St. Cloud leads the North at 10-4.

The high school coaches of the day are Dave Thorson and Faith Johnson Patterson of DeLaSalle, who swept Eden Prairie 77-60 (boys) and 78-57 (girls).

The Big Games Jan. 21--Concordia Moorhead Sweeps St. Thomas

What a night to be a Concordia Cobber!

First the women knocked off the 1st place (and recently rated as highly as #3 in the nation) Tommies 69-62. But the Cobbers were just getting warmed up on this cold, below zero night.

Because then came what Concordia's news service called an "improbable" win but perhaps the biggest win in Cobber basketball history, 54-52 over the previously unbeaten and #1 ranked Tommies men. Senior guard Andrew Martinson scored 11 points, all within the space of 3 minutes in the 2nd half, as Concordia erased a 37-32 deficit with a 17-6 run.

Now leading 49-43 at 5:55, Concordia would never trail again, though the Tommies would tie it up at 52 on a Will DeBerg 3 at 1:50. But the Tommies missed their last 4 shots, and Jacob Huus hit a pair of throws at 0:29 to win it. Huus finished with 9 points, 11 boards and 4 assists.

The women followed a similar script, using a 16-4 2nd half run to turn a 39-31 deficit into a 47-43 lead. They too would never trail again though the Tommies tied it up momentarily at 47. Finally it was 63-62 at 0:42, and St. Thomas missed their last 3 shots while Tricia Sorenson and Erika Jossart scored 4 and 2 points, respectively, including 4-of-6 throws, to clinch it. Sorenson led the Cobbers with 15 points and 8 rebounds, coming off the bench for the 1st time this year after starting 15 straight games.

The Concordia women thus tied St. Thomas for 1st place in the MIAC at 11-2, just 1 game ahead of Gustavus, St. Ben's and St. Mary's. Among the men, St. Thomas remains comfortably in 1st at 11-1, 2 games ahead of Augsburg and 3 games ahead of the Cobbers. But the national #1 ranking is probably a casualty at least for the time being.

Player of the Day: Concordia's 6th players, Andrew Martinson and Tricia Sorenson.

Coach of the Day: Obviously Concordia's Rich Glas and Jessica Rahman are the obvious candidates. But I just gotta mention a 3rd really amazing game last night. #1AA boys Pelican Rapids traveled to #6AA Hawley...and lost 79-51. So Hawley's Jed Carlson is the Coach of the Day, 'cause I got no other category left to get Hawley into today's report.

The Big Game Jan. 16--Gustavus men surprise Augsburg 70-59

The Gustavus men surprised 2nd place Augsburg 70-59 at Augsburg Wednesday night, pulling away from a 32-all half-time tie and a 40-40 tie at the 10 minute mark. But over the next 3 minutes the Gusties ripped off a 16-2 run and never looked back. Ben Biewen, Jim Hill and Isaac Tapp each scored 2 buckets in the run, and Hill finished with team highs of 20 points and 6 boards. Biewen contributed 14 points and 8 assists.

Player of the Day: In the absence of anybody having a super killer-diller night, here's a choice based more on the body of work. Anna Smith, St. Thomas women, forward-center. She was the starting big forward anyway, but now she's moved into the pivot to cover for the injured Maggie Weiers. In her 1st year as a regular, she's become the Tommies leading scorer at 10.6 ppg and their leading rebounder with 7 per game. Last night she had 20 points and 8 boards as St. Thomas manhandled Macalester 73-44. Coach of the Day: Mark Hanson, Gustavus men.

The Big Game Jan. 12--Indiana 88 Minnesota Gopher men 81

Wow. Indiana put on a shooting clinic in the 1st half, making 14-of-21 2s (67 percent) and 7-of-11 3s (64 percent) en route to a 52-29 half-time lead. The Gophers also hurt themselves with 12 turnovers, and Indiana scored 19 points off those turnovers while Minnesota only scored 4 points off of Indiana turnovers. Each team had 6 offensive boards but Indiana out-scored the Gophers on 2nd chance points 10-5 just because of their stratospheric shooting percentage.

But, wow, again, but this time it was Minnesota putting on a show in the 2nd half, out-scoring the Hoosiers 52-36 and slowly crawling back into the game. They didn't get within 10 until 77-68 on 2-of-3 FT by Austin Hollins at 2:48. A minute later if was 79-71 when the 1st of 2 really BIG plays involving offensive rebounds occurred.

#1--Joe Coleman stole the ball in the backcourt and drove for a layup but missed. Rodney Williams trailed the play, grabbed the offensive board but he also missed on his putback dunk attempt. Instead of being within 6, the Gophers quickly trailed by 10 as Indiana hit a pair of FT at 1:10.

Still Minnesota came on as Andre Hollins hit a 3, Austin hit a 3, Trevor Mbakwe hit a pair of throws, and Andre hit 2-of-3 throws to get within 84-81 with 19 ticks left on the clock.

#2--Minnesota put the Hoosiers' Jordan Hulls on the line. He obligingly missed both throws. A Gopher rebound would have given Minnesota 15 seconds to set up a game-tying 3. Instead, Hulls rebounded his own miss and was fouled again. This time he made both throw.

Minnesota misfired on a 3 and Indiana made 2 more throws at :04.

Statistically the difference was Indiana's 40 trips to the FT line versus Minnesota's 15, and the Hoosiers' 19-of-34 (56 percent) shooting on 2s compared to the Gophers 18-of-39 (46 percent). Both teams ended up similarly re. 3-pointers, Indiana hitting 42 percent (mostly in the 1st half) and Minnesota 41 (mostly in the 2nd). Indiana dominated the possession game (offensive rebounds minus turnovers) in the 1st half, the Gophers did the same in the 2nd.

Player of the Day: Anders Broman, Lakeview Christian 57 points. Coach of the Day: Mike Durbin, St. Ben's. The Bennies gave the St. Thomas women their 1st conference loss, 66-62.

The Big Game, January 9--Minnesota Gopher men 84 Illinois 67

These Gophers are starting to look like something special. They took the lead for good at #11 Illinois at 19-18 and led 34-30 at the half. The lead hit double figures at 42-32 but Illinois roared back to within 2 at 44-42. 4 minutes later it was 58-47 and the closest the Illini got after that was 9 as the Gophers made 15-of-16 2nd half FT.

Player of the Day: Joe Coleman scored 29 points, 25 in the 2nd half. Trevor Mbakwe scored 19 with 11 boards, and Andre Hollins had 22 with 6 assists. Coach of the Day: Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women, who routed Gustavus in St. Peter 65-43 in the battle of MIAC unbeatens.

The Big Game Monday, Jan. 7--Gustavus women 66 Macalester 56

Kelsey Florian, Abby Rothenbuhler, Julia Dysthe and Karina Schroeder all scored in double figures to lead Gustavus Adolphus over host Macalester 66-56. The Gusties led by as many as 20 at 58-38 before the Scots closed the gap late. Veronkia Jakubovie of Macalester led all scorers and rebounders with 19 and 10.

The St. Thomas men blitzed Bethel 42-12 in the 1st half of their game at Bethel. The final was 90-48. No box score was available as of 10:30 p.m.

Player of the Day: Dan Kornbaum, Augsburg, scored 26 points in a 77-65 win at St. John's
Coach of the Day: John Tauer, St. Thomas men. Yikes! The Tommies played on the road at a team that had a five-game winning streak going. The results are mentioned above.

The Big Game January 2, 2012--Bloomington Kennedy girls 57 Eastview 49

Kennedy trailed Eastview 33-28 at the half but after playing zone in the 1st half, Kennedy came out in the 2nd in a man defense and its quickness was the difference. Kennedy won the 2nd half 29-16 as Eastview just didn't get the open looks they'd gotten in the 1st half. Maddie Guebert of Eastview and Jade Martin of Kennedy scored 23 points each, but...

Player of the Day: Kenisha Bell of Kennedy was the MVP. Her defense on Guebert in the 2nd half and her 7 steals were the old ballgame. Coach of the Day: Laurie Kelly, Gustavus women and Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women. Both won last night to stay unbeaten in the MIAC. Each has 2 games between now and then, but a match-up of unbeatens next Wednesday night at Gustavus seems likely.