University of St. Thomas Athletics
29-3
Chris. Newport
30-2
Men's Basketball storms to NCAA title game
3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By DOUG HENNES
SALEM, Virginia – Just call him The Beast.
Fellow players, coaches and fans used all kinds of superlatives to describe Cullen Ogren's performance Friday night in helping to lead St. Thomas to a 66-62 win over Christopher Newport in NCAA Division III Final Four action.
But it was Tommy Hannon, the starting center on the Tommies' national championship team in 2011, who may have come up with the best description for the backup center who recorded career highs in points (10), rebounds (nine) and minutes logged (27).
"He's The Beast," Hannon said, and senior forward Taylor Montero nodded in agreement.
"He really is The Beast," Montero said. "He's been The Beast all year."
The Beast and his teammates have one more game to play – at 5 p.m. CDT Saturday – in their quest for St. Thomas' second national title. The opponent will be second-ranked and undefeated Benedictine (32-0), which defeated Amherst 63-60 in the other semifinal. The game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network cable channel.
"We will have played the No. 1 (Augustana), No. 4 (Christopher Newport) and No. 2 (Benedictine) teams in the country, with records of 29-1, 30-1 and 32-0, in an eight-day period," coach John Tauer said. "If we win the title, we'll have earned it."
For Ogren, the game validated a four-year career that has seen its share of ups and downs. The Hill-Murray graduate played on the junior varsity team as a freshman but mostly sat on the bench during his sophomore and junior years. This season, he played 194 minutes in 25 games, scored 42 points (average of 1.7 per game) and grabbed 41 rebounds (1.6 average).
And then on Friday night, he was thrust into the limelight when senior center Ryan Saarela got into early foul trouble. Ogren jumped in to play 13 minutes and score eight points in the first half.
"It's a great feeling to get a 'career' game, and on a stage like this," said the 6-foot-6 Ogren, who admitted he had doubts during his four years riding the bench. "I would ask myself if it was worth it to dedicate so much time to basketball, but I knew I'd never would leave. I just stuck it out."
Tauer called Ogren's performance "inspiring" and an example that hard work and perseverance truly do make a difference. "I couldn't be happier for him. This is what college athletics is about – that guys work so hard with no guarantees, and then they have a night like Cullen did tonight."
Tauer said Ogren was "a horse." When informed that he really is The Beast, the coach shook his head and laughed. The Beast it is.
Tight first half
St. Thomas jumped to 7-0 and 14-7 leads as Christopher Newport struggled from the field, missing its first seven shots. The Captains heated up and went on a 15-5 run to go ahead 22-19 with 4:38 left in the half, but the Tommies scored the last 10 points to lead 33-25 at the break.
Christopher Newport coach John Krikorian called the 10-0 Tommie run the "big difference" in the game. "We kind of lost our way," he said, "and took a couple of quick shots."
Ogren started the run with two free throws to tie the game at 25-25 with 2:10 to go. Montero followed with a drive, Ogren hit a jumper and guard Cortez Tillman made a spinning layup. Guard Grant Shaeffer's layup with three seconds left in the half gave St. Thomas the eight-point lead.
"We also dug in on defense when they took the lead," Tauer said. "Our guys were locked in."
The Tommies extended their lead to 11 points early in the second half but Christopher Newport went on a 9-2 run to trail only 42-38 – one of five occasions when the Captains trimmed their deficit to four points. But they could get no closer.
Shaeffer and Montero carried the offensive load for St. Thomas in the second half, scoring 12 and 10 points, respectively, and finishing with 19 and 14. Shaeffer had one streak where he scored eight of the Tommies' 10 points to give them a 46-40 lead. Montero had eight points over the last 6:40, including back-to-back drives intto the lane for soft jumpers.
St. Thomas won the game at the free throw line, making 19 of 24 (79 percent) to Christopher Newport's 3 of 11 (27 percent). The Captains outscored the Tommies 5 to 1 in 3-pointers, the first time in 115 games – since Dec. 1, 2012 – that they had so few treys. That surprised Tauer, considering how his team was 31 for 57 on 3-pointers in its first four playoff games.
"They defended us on the arc as well as any team in the last five years," Tauer said. He also was worried about the Captains' quickness, and Montero agreed.
"They were very quick," he said, and he smiled before adding, "and I'm not the quickest guy out there. Our game plan was to keep them in front of us as much as possible and contest their shots."
That, and look to The Beast for a basket and a rebound.
Benedictine edges Amherst
In Friday night's first game, undefeated Benedictine edged Amherst 63-60, surviving a 3-point shot at the buzzer to advance to the championship game.
Benedictine went on a 10-2 run with the score tied at 44-44 to hold its largest lead, 54-46, with six minutes left. Amherst scored nine of the next 11 points to close to 56-55 but could not get closer than one point in the final four minutes. Benedictine made five of eight free throws at the end.
The Eagles had four players in double figures, led by Michael Blaszczyk's 15 points, dominated the boards 50-30 and survived 18 turnovers. Both teams struggled from the field, with Benedictine shooting 37 percent to Amherst's 35 percent. The Eagles dominated the boards 50-30, survived 18 turnovers and won the game at the free throw line (17-8).
