Taylor Witt (6'2''-G-88) hit two free throws with 2.3 seconds left to lift No. 2 seed St. Cloud State to a thrilling 68-67 victory over No. 8 seed Southwest Minnesota State in the championship game of the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament on Sunday afternoon in St. Cloud, Minn. It's the second straight NSIC tournament championship for SCSU, while SMSU falls to 0-4 all-time in NSIC championship games. Matt Schneck (6'8''-C-88), the tournament's most valuable player, led SCSU with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Witt added 18 points. The Huskies (25-5) put together their 15th straight win in front of the home crowd to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Regional tournament March 13-16, while the Mustangs (17-12) will await the NCAA selection show tonight at 8:30 p.m. to see if their late season run was enough to make the NCAA Tournament. This win marks the fourth conference tournament championship won by head coach Kevin Schlagel with the Huskies, while posting a 6-0 record in NSIC tournament play in the team's first two seasons in the conference. In a game that featured 19 lead changes and eight ties, SMSU's Scott Roehl (6'7''-F-87) gave SMSU a 67-66 lead, hitting two free throws with 7.9 seconds left in the game. Following a timeout, Witt caught the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court before drawing a foul near the free throw line. DeAnthony Zanders (6'0''-G-87) led SMSU with a career-high 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting, while Kevin Andrews (6'4''-F) added 15 points and six rebounds. Scott Roehl chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds to round out the Mustang double-figure scoring. Both Zanders and Andrews were named to the all-tournament team. SMSU started the game slow taking a quick 2-0 lead, before SCSU answered with 13 straight points to build a 13-2 lead with 14:17 left in the half. SMSU missed seven of its first eight shots from the field to start the game. The Mustangs answered with a 12-4 run in the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 17-14 with 10:25 left in the half following a traditional three-point play by Nick Dale (6'11''-C). St. Cloud State countered with five straight points to end the SMSU run and eventually extended the lead to 32-22 with 2:03 on the clock before SMSU closed the half on a huge 9-0 run in the final two minutes. Scott Roehl and Jordan Miller (6'4''-G-89) scored consecutive baskets to make it 32-26 with just over a minute remaining, before Andrew Peschong (6'6''-G) drilled two free throws with 52 seconds left to trim the SCSU lead to 32-28. Following another defensive stop by the SMSU defense, Kevin Andrews drilled his third 3-pointer of the half in the closing seconds to cut the SCSU lead to 32-31 at halftime. SCSU started the second half strong jumping out on an 11-4 run to take a 43-35 lead with 16:12 left in the game. SMSU then answered with its largest run of the game, a 10-0 spurt in the next six minutes to take its first lead of the half at 45-43 with 10:20 remaining on a jumper by Roehl. The lead then changed hands several times in the final 10 minutes, with the Mustangs taking their largest lead of the half at three points on two occasions, including 57-54 with 3:46 left on a field goal by Andrews. SCSU held a one-point lead with under two minutes remaining in the game until Zanders hit two free throws with 1:40 to give the Mustangs a 63-62 lead. Following a SCSU field goal with 1:06 left, Zanders hit another basket with 45 seconds remaining to push SMSU back into the lead at 65-64, but again, SCSU had an answer as Andrew Bernstetter (6'6''-F-89) drilled a jumper with 32 seconds on the clock to give the Huskies a 66-65 advantage. On the next SMSU possession, Zanders missed a jumper with 10 seconds remaining, but Roehl grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 7.9 seconds left and eventually made both free throws to give the Mustangs their last lead of the game. SMSU finished the game shooting 47.2 percent (25 of 53) from the field, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range and held a 35-31 rebound advantage, but ended with just five offensive rebounds. SCSU ended the game shooting 36.2 percent (21 of 58) from the field, including 6 of 20 on 3-pointers. The Huskies committed just five turnovers in the game, while the Mustangs ended the game with 13 turnovers. Schneck finished the game with his 18th double-double of the season with 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. He also made 10 of 12 from the charity stripe. Witt tied a game-high with 18 points and dished out three assists in all 40 minutes of end-to-end action. The Huskies shot just 36 percent from the field in the game, but were able to make 20 of 24 free throws in and turned 13 Mustang turnovers into 12 points to help fight off a feisty Southwest Minnesota State squad. St. Cloud State will now move on to make their 12th NCAA regional appearance in school history, and fourth in the last five years. The NSIC All-Tournament Team consisted of Schneck, Witt, SMSU's DeAnthony Zanders and Kevin Andrews, and Winona State's Ben Fischer (6'1''-G). Courtesy of NSIC NSIC Tournament Final: St.Cloud State - Southwest Minnesota State 68-67 NSIC Tournament Semifinals: St.Cloud State - Wayne State 74-66 Southwest Minnesota State - Winona State 81-67 NSIC All-Tournament Team Matt Schneck of St.Cloud St. Taylor Witt of St.Cloud St. DeAnthony Zanders of SMSU Kevin Andrews of SMSU Ben Fischer of Winona State
All-NSIC 1st Team Cody Schilling (6'5''-G) of Augustana Craig Heiman (6'5''-F-87) of Concordia-St. Paul Anthony Moody (6'0''-G) of University of Mary Jefferson Mason (6'6''-G-88) of Minnesota State Travis Nelson (6'11''-C-87) of Minnesota State Mitch Boeck (6'4''-G-87) of Northern State Matt Schneck of St. Cloud State Taylor Witt of St. Cloud State Brett Spiker (6'7''-F-86) of Wayne State David Johnson (6'2''-G) of Winona State All-NSIC 2nd Team David Foster (6'5''-G) of Augustana Cameron McCaffrey (6'1''-G) of Augustana Seth Haake (6'3''-G-87) of Bemidji State Brent Barz (6'10''-F-89) of Concordia-St. Paul Eric Erdmann (6'5''-F) of University of Mary Jesse Clark (6'0''-G-86) of Minnesota State Jermain Davis (6'4''-G-86) of Minnesota State Scott Roehl of SMSU Matt Lesan (6'2''-G-88) of Upper Iowa Ben Fischer of Winona State All-NSIC Player of the Year: Matt Schneck of St. Cloud State All-NSIC Defensive Player of the Year: Jefferson Mason of Minnesota State All-NSIC Freshman of the Year: Cameron McCaffrey of Augustana All-NSIC Newcomer of the Year: Anthony Moody of University of Mary All-NSIC Coach of the Year: Matt Margenthaler of Minnesota State | |||||||||||||||||||||
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