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SALEM, Va. — Guard Will DeBerg said the No. 1-ranked Tommie basketball team had a vision at the start of the season: to go to Atlanta to play for the national championship. That vision was tested Friday, but it is still alive.

DeBerg’s 20 points led St. Thomas past Williams (Mass.), punching the Tommies’ ticket to the Final Four for the second time in three years with an 82-79 come-from-behind victory in an NCAA Division III Elite Eight game at the Salem Civic Center.

The Tommies (30-1) will face unranked Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) Saturday night in the Final Four. Mary Hardin-Baylor defeated St. Mary’s (Md.) 69-66 Friday in the second Elite Eight game.

“I’m very proud of our guys today,” coach John Tauer said. “They’ve showed resiliency all year and showed it today.”

St. Thomas overcame an eight-point halftime deficit, its largest of the season, to overcome a Williams (26-5) team that shot a blistering 65.4 percent from the field in the first half.

“Early on, we were a bit surprised at how hard Williams jumped out on us,” DeBerg said. “We’re not used to being down 10-12 points that early in the game.”

Williams executed its game plan to perfection in the first half, something Tauer said had the Tommies’ “heads spinning.”

“What they ran on offense was really hard to guard,” Tauer said. “They were really playing H-O-R-S-E. That never happens to us.”

St. Thomas spent most of the first half playing catch-up, and led once at 3-2. The Ephs had all the momentum and appeared to have confidence in their shots. Even the shots they missed were baskets that went halfway down and out.

The Tommies finally pulled within eight points, 47-39, as forward Zach Riedeman hit a fadeaway jumper as time expired in the first half.

St. Thomas is a second-half team. Ask Augsburg. Ask Aurora. Ask Calvin. The team was not going to let its season come to an end on this day.

“We said at halftime, ‘We don’t have that home-court advantage to bring us back. It’s got to start with us,’” DeBerg said. “All 19 guys on the trip looked around at halftime and we said, ‘We’ve got 20 minutes left together to change what we’re doing.’ The guys rallied around each other.”

St. Thomas displayed a renewed sense of intensity early in the second half with a 11-2 run to give the Tommies their first lead since 18:43 of the first half.

“The way we were able to come out in the opening five minutes of the second half was huge,” DeBerg said.

That intensity came from the institution of the full-court press, something Williams struggled with for the rest of the contest.

“Coach always told us to pressure their guards to speed them up,” guard Marcus Alipate, who finished with nine points off the bench, said. “I think it’s fair to say they hadn’t seen the type of pressure that we put on them. All five guys working on the press really helped out.”

Part of the Tommies’ ability to come from behind was their 3-point shooting. St. Thomas tied a school record, set earlier this year, for made 3-pointers in a game (15).

DeBerg said he knew he had to be more “aggressive” going in to the second half.

“My teammates did a great job finding me, and I started to find my rhythm,” DeBerg said, finishing 5-of-9 from behind the arc. “We had the momentum, and I was able to make a few.”

Williams wouldn’t back down as it held a slim 63-62 lead with 9:26 left. It would be the last time it would have a single-point-advantage on the Tommies.

The Ephs were not known for their depth, only going seven deep on the roster. When center Michael Mayer picked up his fourth foul with eight minutes left, the Tommies knew they had the Ephs exactly where they wanted.

St. Thomas would jump out to an eight-point lead with 3:53 to go, but the Ephs never relented.

Guard Taylor Epley scored nine points in the last three minutes to pull Williams within three at 82-79. The Tommies turned the ball over, giving the Ephs one last shot.

Williams guard Daniel Wohl took an 34-foot fadeaway that was not off in time, pushing St. Thomas to the Final Four for the first time since 2011.

Riedeman added 15 points and forward John Nance chipped in 10 points.

St. Thomas shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and 47 percent for the game. From behind the arc, the Tommies shot 60 percent (15-25).

St. Thomas forced Williams into 14 turnovers, which led to 15 St. Thomas points. Williams still shot 58 percent from the field for the game and outscored the Tommies in the paint 42-20.

St. Thomas seems to find different ways to win games every week. With Friday and Saturday’s back-to-back games, the Tommies will need to play their style to advance to the national championship.

“In the summer we said, ‘We want to play together in the national championship on April 7,’” DeBerg said. “We know we’re close.”

Ross Schreck can be reached at schr8250@stthomas.edu.