University of St. Thomas Athletics
22-4
Bethel
14-13
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel University | 26 | 33 | 59 |
| St. Thomas | 47 | 27 | 74 |
Explosive first-half sends M. Basketball to finals
2/28/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By DOUG HENNES
Coach John Tauer looked for a good way to describe St. Thomas' performance in the first half against Bethel Friday night, and he settled on a few choice words:
"That's one you want to bottle," he told his team in the locker room after the game.
The Tommies, playing perhaps their best 20 minutes of basketball this season, exploded to a 47-21 halftime lead on the strength of 69 percent shooting and only one turnover and two fouls. They cruised to a 74-59 win over Bethel in a semifinal MIAC playoff game.
No. 12-ranked St. Thomas (22-4) advanced to the championship game at 2 p.m. Sunday in Schoenecker Arena against St. Olaf, a 66-53 winner over Gustavus. St. Thomas has two hard-fought wins over the Oles (21-5) this year -- 62-61 and 55-51.
The Tommies, nine-time defending regular-season champions, will seek their eighth playoff title in nine years, and Tauer wants them to come out with the same resolve and intensity they displayed Friday before 1,360 fans.
"It started with our defense," he said. "We got some early stops that allowed us to run and we didn't let their zone get set up. It helped to hit those early shots, too."
It sure did. Sitting on a 14-11 lead, guards Cortez Tilllman and Marcus Alipate drained back-to-back 3-pointers and Conner Nord followed up with an inside basket to give the Tommies a 22-11 lead. They later went on a 17-3 run to build their biggest margin at 46-23.
Senior forward Zach Riedeman, one of four Tommies scoring in double figures, credited the coaches for a successful game plan against a Bethel zone that had troubled them during the regular season.
"We wanted to overload one half of the zone and it worked," said Riedeman, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds. "We had 16 assists in the first half. Everybody played so unselfishly and looked for guys with the open shots."
St. Thomas were without senior point guard Erik Tengwall, a three-year starter out with an injury. Tauer started freshman Grant Schaeffer in Tengwall's place and he responded with 12 points and no turnovers in 28 minutes, while Tillman had nine points in 23 minutes off the bench.
"I was a little nervous at first," Schaeffer said, "but going against Erik all year in practice prepared me well. "We had the right mindset. We knew we had to play well from the very beginning."
"Grant and Cortez played with a lot of confidence," Tauer said. "It's pretty impressive when you lose your quarterback (Tengwall) for a game like this, and guys like Grant and Cortez step up and play like they did."
The Tommies cooled off in the second half, shooting only 29 percent from the field to finish at 47 percent for the game, but never let Bethel cut their lead to single digits. The Royals closed to within 11 with nine minutes to go but a Schaeffer trey and inside baskets by Tillman and Ryan Saarela restored the lead to 18 at 65-47.
St. Thomas had a season-low three turnovers. Junior guard Marcus Alipate led the Tommies with 13 points, including three three-pointers in the first half, and Nord had 12 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
Bethel finished its season 14-13. Freshman guard Brycen Wojta led the Royals with 19 points
In Northfield, St. Olaf trailed Gustavus 38-36 midway through the second half but went on a 12-0 run to take control of the game. The Oles were led by Justin Pahl and Sterling Nielsen with 15 points each.
Click here for box score:
http://www.miacathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/boxscores/20140228_vuhx.xml
