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Morris, Minn. – The Minnesota Morris men's basketball team led for just 31 seconds tonight (Jan. 29). That was until taking the lead for good in the final minute to come back from as much as 15-down for a 73-68 win over St. Scholastica on Jim Gremmels Court.

The visiting Saints (7-11, 4-3 UMAC) quickly jumped out to a 10-point lead, and by the midway point of the first half were up by as much as 15. St. Scholastica shot better than 55% (15-of-27) from the floor in the first half, while also forcing UMM into nine turnovers that resulted in 12 first half Saint points.

The Cougars (9-9, 5-2 UMAC) closed the gap to just six heading into the locker room, and spent the second half continually chipping away at the Saints lead. Just when it looked as if five would be as close as they would get, the Cougars closed the game on a 14-0 run for the hard-fought victory.

It certainly did not come easy though. The Cougars found themselves in the same position to start the second, as they did to start the first. The Saints came out of halftime on an 8-1 run to push their lead back to 13 at 49-36 at the 16:22 mark. And after a Tom Barrett (Red Lake, Minn.) bucket to halt the rally, CSS quickly answered to go back up 13 with 14:36 left to play.

Barrett scored six second half points, to go along with eight in the first half to finish in double figures for the fourth time in five games, with the 14 points also marking his second highest tally of the season.

A Brendon Foss (Hancock, Minn.) lay-in under the basket at the 13:42 mark finally got the score within 10 at 51-42, but later in the half a St. Scholastica three pushed the margin back to double figures at 67-56 with just 5:09 left.

Less than 10 seconds later Barrett hit his third three-pointer of the game and the Cougar run was on. Trailing eight at 67-59 with 5:00 minutes to go, the Cougars allowed just a single free throw to the Saints the rest of the way.

Daniel Fragodt (Benson, Minn.) and Eric Dalbey (Mora, Minn.) combined to score 13 of the final 14 points, with Dalbey sinking the two free throws to put UMM over the top. Fragodt led the Cougars with 17 on the night.

Over the final five minutes the Cougars forced the Saints into nine missed shots, while also pulling down four offensive rebounds to keep their possessions alive. The Cougars scored 13 second chance points on the night, and held the Saints to just a 30% (9-of-30) mark from the floor in the second half

They win moves UMM into second place in the UMAC standings, and is its fifth straight in the friendly confines of the P.E. Center.  The Cougars close out the home schedule next weekend with Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran on Feb. 4 and 5 respectively.

But first they must hit the road for a Tuesday night tilt at Presentation. When the Cougars opened the conference season against the “other” Saints in Jan. 11, Presentation used an overtime session to pull out an 83-78 win. Round two tips off at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1.