Box Score

ST. PAUL – Success under the hoop helped the University of Northwestern fend off the College of St. Scholastica 73-50 in Thursday's Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Men's Basketball Tournament semifinal. The Eagles held big advantages in both rebounding and scoring in the paint to reverse the Saints' victory over UNW in both teams' final UMAC regular season game in the Ericksen Center last Saturday. Top seeded Northwestern will host No. 3 seed Crown College in the conference finale on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Early success on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball helped Northwestern gain an early edge. The Eagles took opportunities to drive through the lane, and if the ball didn't fall through the hoop then, it was happening at the free throw line. St. Scholastica's first point came with 13:02 on the first half clock, but Kyle Ooms (Hollandale, MN/Albert Lea High School)' layup 23 seconds later gave UNW a double digit lead. Just three the rest of the way out did that margin slip below 10, and that was for a grand total of two minutes.

The long shots didn't fall too often for Northwestern, but when they did go in, it was big for the Eagles. Michael Carney (Ames, Iowa/Des Moines Christian)'s three-pointer at the 9:05 mark of the first half pushed the lead to 12 before Thomas Shephard (Crystal, N.D./Valley-Edinburg) followed with a downtown make to extend the edge to 15.With Ooms and Will Gisler (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) both at seven rebounds, Northwestern owned a 33-22 halftime buffer.

Ooms continued to showcase his rebounding skills in the second half, earning a double-double with over 16 minutes still to play in the game, a few ticks before Gisler hit his double-double. The two big men went a combined 15-16 at the free throw line, helping the Eagles make 24 attempts at the charity stripe, which proved to be beneficial in holding off the Saints in the second half. Carney made UNW's only three-pointer of the second half with 2:07 to go, moving the Eagles lead into the 20s and paving the way for head coach Tim Grosz to nearly clear his bench for the rest of the way. Freshman Austin Stubbs (Pleasantville, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) turned a Jordan Hughes mistake into a steal and a layup of his own, making Northwestern's final bucket to seal the 23-point victory and pave the Eagles' way into Saturday's tournament championship game.

UNW doubled up the Saints (11-15) in total rebounding, 46-23 while scoring 17 points off of St. Scholastica' 11 turnovers. 30 of the Eagles' points came in the paint.

Ooms finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Gisler 12 and 12 while Steven Willey (Fort Calhoun, Neb./Fort Calhoun) scored nine second half points to wrap up the game with 15. Like Ooms and Gisler, Willey too had eight opportunities at the free throw line while the Eagles were whistled for a mere 12 fouls throughout the entire contest.

Jake Naslund, who torched Northwestern for 21 points last week, was held to 11 points on 4-7 shooting in 21 minutes. Naslund was whistled for two quick fouls in the first half and finished the game with four.

Northwestern (15-11) will take Friday to gear up for Crown, a team the Eagles swept during the regular season. The Eagles beat the Storm 79-65 in the Ericksen Center on Jan. 25 before winning by a nearly identical 79-64 score in St. Bonifacius, Minn. on Feb. 7. Saturday's 7 p.m. tip-off will be the fourth year in a row that UNW will play in the UMAC Tournament championship game.