Minnesota, Morris 104
Crown College 67

Box Score

By Taylor Lunemann (Sports Editor, University Register)

Going into their game on Saturday afternoon, both the Cougar men and Crown College needed wins in order to secure spots in the UMAC postseason tournament.

The Cougars would shore up the two seed with a win, and Crown needed a win combined with a loss by Martin Luther to sneak into the postseason as a sixth seed.

But the Cougar men showed they were not going to give up that chance. They shot a scorching 61% in the first half on their way to an easy 104-67 victory.

The Cougars opened an early margin by pushing the tempo against a sluggish-looking Crown team. UMM's defensive pressure kept Crown from establishing rhythm and forced them into 20 turnovers.

As a team, UMM played some of the best team ball of the entire season, dishing out a season high 29 assists and tying their season low with only 12 turnover. They also were very aggressive on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 36-23 led by Derek Schmidt with 9.

In the first half, the Cougars relied on ball reversals to find open looks in the paint, and for the second straight night, the Cougar big men made their presence known as they again dominated in the paint. Schmidt led the charge with 17 points and senior Phil Allen contributed 15.

At halftime, the Cougars led 54-35.

In the second half, the Cougar men didn't let up on defense and continued to push the ball and continue to wear down the Crown players.

The Purple Storm was led by David Glover with 19 points. Maurice Lloyd added 12.

UMM will host a UMAC semifinal game this Thursday at the P.E. Center. The finish the regular season with a 9-5 conference record, 13-12 overall.

Game Notes: The play of the game occurred 1:04 into the second half when Eric Dalbey threw an alley-oop pass to Derek Schmidt for a very swift-looking dunk.