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March 1, 2008
FONTBONNE MEN CAPTURE SECOND CONSECUTIVE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
ST. LOUIS - Fontbonne University captured their second
consecutive St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC)
Tournament Championship with a 73-72 victory versus Maryville
University. The Saints, who were the #4 seed in the tournament,
finish the season at 13-14 overall, while Fontbonne, the #3 seed,
improves to 21-6. The first half was a
battle with the lead changing hands a total of five times, but it
was Maryville who took a 10-point lead heading into halftime.
Fontbonne cut their deficit to two points at the 2:54 mark, but the
Saints answered with an 11-3 run to end the half. Maryville shot
47.1 percent (16-of-34) from the field in the first half, including
41.7 percent (5-of-12) from behind the arc. Fontbonne, on the other
hand, shot only 28.6 percent (8-of-28) from the field and 10.0
percent (1-of-10) from three-point range.
The Saints took their largest lead of the
game (14 points) at the start of the second half, but Fontbonne did
not give up and slowly chipped away at the lead. The Griffins took
their first lead of the second half at the 5:42 mark, but Maryville
answered on the next possession with a layup by Ben Koopman.
Fontbonne retook the lead for the final time at 5:04 and held on
until the end.
In the final minute of the game, Maryville
cut their deficit to one point on a made free throw by Aaron
Steinke. Fontbonne's Justin Storandt hit 1-of-2 from the
charity stripe to put his team back up by two points, and then
teammate Josh Branch hit two shots from the line to give the
Griffins a four-point advantage, 73-69, with just 12 seconds
remaining. Steinke came down and hit a clutch three-pointer with
seven seconds on the clock to make the score 73-72. After a foul and
two missed free throws by Branch, Maryville's Jared McCoy had
a highly contested layup, but his last second attempt failed, and
Fontbonne came away with the victory.
Fontbonne's Branch and Brian Fogerty
each scored a game-high 24 points. Branch was 11-of-14 from the
charity stripe and also added four steals and three assists. Fogerty
shot 8-of-16 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds. Storandt
finished with a game-high 14 rebounds to help the Griffins out
rebound the Saints 41-35.
Steinke led Maryville with 20 points, seven
rebounds and a game-high five assists. Teddy McGrath and
Tyler Saxton had 14 and 10 points respectively, and Casey
Holland added nine points and nine rebounds.
Maryville's Steinke and Saxton were both
named to the All-Tournament Team, along with Fontbonne's Fogerty and
Chad Fournie. Fournie was also named Tournament MVP.
Fontbonne receives the automatic qualifying
bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Brackets will be announced
on Monday, March 3.
2008 SLIAC Men's Basketball
All-Tournament Team
Landon Kurz - Westminster
Ryan Turk - Webster
Aaron Steinke - Maryville
Tyler Saxton - Maryville
Brian Fogerty - Fontbonne
Chad Fournie - Fontbonne (MVP) |