The St. Thomas men’s basketball team fell to the Augsburg Auggies 84-81 in the MIAC playoffs semifinal matchup Thursday at Schoenecker Arena.
The Tommies (22-4 overall, 18-2 MIAC) erased a 19 point deficit against the Auggies (19-8 overall, 13-7 MIAC) in the second half to tie up the game 79-79 with 1:49 left. With 20 seconds left in the game, Auggie guard Matt Carik scored a three-pointer to secure victory for his side.
“We gained a lot of confidence from our crowd, they played a big part in our comeback,” Tommies forward Connor Bair said. “We did our best, and we tried our hardest, but in the end we just didn’t end up on the right side.”
Bair led the Tommies with 22 points, while Augsburg was led by guard Booker Coplin’s 34 points.
“I’m proud of the team, they stepped it up in the second half, but you have to play forty minutes of good basketball,” coach John Tauer said. “I’d say we’ve done that in nearly every game this season, but we dug ourselves a hole that was really tough to get out of.”
The Augsburg offense controlled the tempo of the first half and the beginning of the second. Within the final nine minutes of the game, the Tommies went on a 26-9 run, but fell short in the final seconds after two three-point attempts were unsuccessful.
“We came out pretty flat, especially the third time playing these guys, you’d expect we knew what was coming,” guard Michael Hannon said. “That’s the most disappointing part, how flat we came out and letting them jump out to a big lead and get some easy buckets.”
The Tommies’ regular season finished tonight, and their NCAA tournament bid now rests in the hands of the selection committee. The committee will select the teams who did not get an automatic bid on Monday, Feb. 25.
Jacob Schneider can be reached at schn6923@stthomas.edu
The Tommies (22-4 overall, 18-2 MIAC) erased a 19 point deficit against the Auggies (19-8 overall, 13-7 MIAC) in the second half to tie up the game 79-79 with 1:49 left. With 20 seconds left in the game, Auggie guard Matt Carik scored a three-pointer to secure victory for his side.
“We gained a lot of confidence from our crowd, they played a big part in our comeback,” Tommies forward Connor Bair said. “We did our best, and we tried our hardest, but in the end we just didn’t end up on the right side.”
Bair led the Tommies with 22 points, while Augsburg was led by guard Booker Coplin’s 34 points.
“I’m proud of the team, they stepped it up in the second half, but you have to play forty minutes of good basketball,” coach John Tauer said. “I’d say we’ve done that in nearly every game this season, but we dug ourselves a hole that was really tough to get out of.”
The Augsburg offense controlled the tempo of the first half and the beginning of the second. Within the final nine minutes of the game, the Tommies went on a 26-9 run, but fell short in the final seconds after two three-point attempts were unsuccessful.
“We came out pretty flat, especially the third time playing these guys, you’d expect we knew what was coming,” guard Michael Hannon said. “That’s the most disappointing part, how flat we came out and letting them jump out to a big lead and get some easy buckets.”
The Tommies’ regular season finished tonight, and their NCAA tournament bid now rests in the hands of the selection committee. The committee will select the teams who did not get an automatic bid on Monday, Feb. 25.
Jacob Schneider can be reached at schn6923@stthomas.edu
Rae Beaner can be reached at rnbeaner696@stkate.edu