University of St. Thomas Athletics
24-5
Guilford
24-7
Second-half shift ends season for Men's Basketball
3/9/2019 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
--
Senior guard Michael Hannon scored a career-best 28 points with five treys, but Guilford (N.C.) cranked up the scoring in the second half and rallied to an 80-73 victory over St. Thomas in Friday night's Sweet 16 NCAA men's basketball tournament play in Oshkosh, Wis.
The Tommies (24-5) led 39-30 at halfftime but struggled to get stops in the last 20 minutes against the hot-shooting Quakers (24-7).
St. Thomas received at least one 3-point basket from nine different players, but cooled off in the second half after making 9-of-19 in the opening 20 minutes. A 42-27 rebounding deficit and 39-percent shooting also proved hard for the Purple to overcome.
Guilford is 6-0 this season against nationally-ranked teams. The Quakers had only six turnovers and shot 53 percent from the floor after halftime. After making 1-of-5 from behind the arc in the first half, Guilford sank 6-of-10 in the second half.
Coach John Tauer's team, which finishes tied for ninth in the nation, improved 10 wins over the previous season won-loss record (14-12). That's the first 10-win improvement for one season for Tommie men's basketball in 99 years since the 1919-20 St. Thomas team improved from one victory the previous winter to 11 in 1919-20.
Hannon, Connor Bair and GT Johnson closed out the St. Thomas careers.
