ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College men's basketball team lost to St. Olaf, 56-54 in the quarterfinals of the MIAC Playoffs in front of a raucous crowd Tuesday evening in the Leonard Center. The Scots end their season with a 15-11 record, while the Oles improve to 15-12 and advance to the semifinals on Friday at Saint John's.
In the third meeting between the two teams this season, the game was tight throughout, with neither team leading by more than six points. After back-to-back baskets from sophomore guard
Robert Grace IV (Minneapolis, Minn./The Blake School) and junior guard
Caleb Williams (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) put Macalester ahead, 16-15, St. Olaf scored the next seven points to lead, 22-16 with 8:15 left in the first half. The lead was five, 26-21 with four minutes on the clock when first year forward
Noah Shannon (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) drained a three to help the Scots close out the half with a 9-3 run that made the score 30-29 Macalester at the break. Williams tallied 17 points in the first half.
The Scots opened the second half with a basket by sophomore forward
Badou Ba (Dakar, Senegal/Williston Northampton) and a three from sophomore guard
Coby Gold (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) to give Macalester its largest lead of the game, 35-29. The Oles responded with an 11-4 run to take back the lead, 40-39 with 13:02 to play. After the lead changed hands twice, the Scots came back to tie the score at 44-44 with 8:50 remaining. St. Olaf used a 10-4 run over the next six minutes to pull ahead, 54-48 with 2:47 left.
Gold answered with a three, then Grace made 1-of-2 at the free throw line to cut the deficit to two, 54-52 with two minutes on the clock. After the teams exchanged free throws to make the score 56-54 St. Olaf with 1:20 remaining, both teams came up empty on their next possessions. The Scots forced a turnover with 13 seconds left, giving Macalester a chance to tie or take the lead. Williams missed a jumper but the ball went out of bounds off of the Oles with 0.7 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds play, Williams caught the ball in the right corner and fired a three-pointer, but the ball caromed off the front of the rim as time expired.
The Scots shot just 22.6 percent from the field in the second half while holding St. Olaf to 33.3 percent. Williams finished with 21 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Ba grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds to go with four points and two blocks. Shannon tallied 10 points and five rebounds. Nathan Hendler led St. Olaf with 18 points.
Macalester, coach by
Abe Woldeslassie '08, was making its second consecutive postseason appearance for the first time since 2004 and 2005. The Scots have improved their winning percentage each year under Woldeslassie, who competed his fifth season as head coach at his alma mater.
2023 MIAC Men's Basketball Playoffs - Feb. 21-26
Quarterfinals, Tuesday, Feb. 21
No. 5 St. Olaf 56,
No. 4 Macalester 54
No. 6 Hamline 90, No. 3 Saint Mary's 84 (2OT)
Semifinals, Friday, Feb. 24
No. 6 Hamline at No. 1 Carleton, 7:00 p.m.
No. 5 St. Olaf at No. 2 Saint John's, 7:00 p.m.
Championship, Saturday, Feb. 26
Highest remaining seed hosts, 2:00 p.m.
