University of St. Thomas Athletics
30-2
Mary Hardin-Baylor
27-5
Late Crusader run ends season for Men's Hoops
3/23/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By DOUG HENNES
SALEM, Va. -- A record-setting season came to a heartbreaking end Saturday night for St. Thomas when Mary Hardin-Baylor rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Tommies 74-67 in the NCAA Division III semifinals.
Top-ranked St. Thomas saw its 14-game winning streak snapped and finished 30-2. It was the team's third 30-win season in five years, but it will not have the opportunity to go to Atlanta on April 7 to play Amherst for a second national championship.
Coach John Tauer told his players in the locker room that they should keep their heads high and not let the sting of the loss diminish what he called an otherwise magical season.
"I'm obviously very disappointed with the outcome today," Tauer said at a news conference, "but I couldn't be more proud of our players. They sacrificed for each other and persevered. ... To me, this is why you coach, because they inspire me every day."
The Mary Hardin-Baylor turnaround midway through the second half surprised the Salem Civic Center crowd of nearly 2,500 fans, who had seen the Tommies seemingly in firm control with a 54-40 lead and 10:22 left in the game.
St. Thomas still led by 12 points a minute later on a layup by Tommy Hannon, who finished his career with one of his best all-around games -- 15 points and a season-high 15 rebounds.
But Mary Hardin-Baylor wouldn't fold. The unranked Crusaders (27-5), playing in their first Final Four, nibbled away at the deficit and took the lead 63-62 after a 19-6 run and a four-point play. St. Thomas last led 67-66 on a Will DeBerg layup with 36 seconds to go, but Mary Hardin-Baylor made eight straight free throws in the last 25 seconds for the win.
Tauer pointed to three factors in the Tommies' defeat.
"We had too many turnovers (17), we put them at the free-throw line too much (27 of 34, including 19 of 23 in the second half) and they had 17 offensive rebounds (12 in the second half)," he said. "There are a lot of ways to slice it, but the bottom line is they beat us."
Toms Rally from Early Deficit
The teams traded early baskets, with Erik Tengwall hitting two 3-pointers and DeBerg the first of his five treys to give the Tommies a 13-10 lead.
Mary Hardin-Baylor went on an 11-1 run to take its biggest lead at 23-16 midway through the half, but the Tommies responded with a 12-1 run to go ahead 31-26. The Crusaders went without a field goal during a 7:40 stretch late in the half before back-to-back layups tied the game at 33-33.
St. Thomas closed the half with five straight Hannon points - a layup and a free throw after a foul and another layup off a perfect John Nance feed with seven seconds to go to lead 38-33.
Hannon led the Tommies in the first half with seven rebounds and 10 points, and DeBerg had nine points, all on 3-pointers. James Allen, held to one point on 0 for 9 shooting Friday night in the Crusaders' win over St. Mary's of Maryland, had 15 points in the half.
The Tommies wasted little time in the second half, building a double-digit lead with a 16-7 run, and twice led by 14 - 50-36 on a Zach Riedeman layup and 54-40 on freshman guard Cortez Tillman's layup at the 10:22 mark.
Crusaders Rally Again
Like they did against St. Mary's, when they trailed by nine points midway through the second half but rallied to win, the Crusaders went to work. They scored 18 points on eight straight possessions over a 5:39 span to close to within 60-58 with five minutes to go.
The Tommies extended the lead to four on a Riedeman layup, but Cory Meals his third three-pointer to tie the game at 62-62 and was fouled. He made the free throw for the four-point play and a one-point lead, but DeBerg twice put the Tommies back in front -- 64-63 on two free throws and 67-66 with 38 seconds to go on what would be the final basket of his career.
Hannon fouled out with 20 seconds to go and Allen converted two free throws for a 68-67 lead. A St. Thomas turnover on the next play led to another foul and two more Mary Hardin-Baylor free throws and a 70-67 lead. Noah Kaiser's 3-pointer bounced off the rim and the Crusaders salted away the game with four more free throws.
St. Thomas outshot Mary Hardin-Baylor 48 percent to 36 percent from the field but ultimately lost the game 27-17 at the free throw line. The Crusaders also had eight fewer turnovers and 11 steals to the Tommies' two.
DeBerg led St. Thomas with 21 points, making five 3-pointers for the third straight game, followed by Hannon at 15 and Tengwall at 11. Five Crusaders finished in double figures.
Hannon gave Mary Hardin-Baylor credit for adjusting to the Tommies' high-low game and holding him to only a free throw in the nine minutes before he fouled out. The Crusaders also clamped down on DeBerg after he made his fifth 3-pointer with 14:25 to go, allowing only his free throws and layup in the last two minutes of play.
Tauer Salutes Seniors
Tauer praised his five seniors -- DeBerg, Hannon, Kaiser, Nance and Drew Mathews -- who were part of 105 wins over the last four seasons.
He said Mathews, a third-team forward, came back for a final season after hip surgery last summer and that Kaiser battled through injuries throughout his career, including a hand injury that sidelined him for nine games at mid-season. DeBerg twice earned all-conference honors and finished with 904 points in his career.
"And I've known John and Tommy since they were nine-year-old kids coming to my basketball camps," Tauer said. Nance gave up a University of Minnesota football scholarship to transfer to St. Thomas and play 116 games and score 867 points, while Hannon survived being cut from the junior varsity at Cretin-Derham Hall to score 1,061 points and grab 606 rebounds in 101 UST games.
Tommie Notes
• This was the third St. Thomas men's team to win 30 games, joining the 2008-09 (30-1) squad and the 2010-11 (30-3) national champions.
• St. Thomas has won 17 of 19 postseason games over the last three seasons, including 11 of 13 in the NCAA playoffs. Their only other loss was to eventual national champion UW-Whitewater in last year's second round at Whitewater.
• The Tommies had won 37 games in a row while scoring 63 or more points before losing to Mary Hardin-Baylor, only the second opponent in 23 games to score more than 70 points.
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http://www.ncaa.com/game/basketball-men/d3/2013/03/23/mary-hardin-baylor-st-thomas-mn
