It wasn’t easy Saturday but both Thomas More basketball teams won their way into the NAIA semifinals Monday in a pair of almost mirror-image games. Not a small accomplishment as the Saints are the only program in the nation to put both their women’s and men’s teams into the NAIA’s version of the final four.
TMU WOMEN 60, ROCKY MOUNTAIN (MONT.) 58
The TMU women finished first Saturday with a 60-58 win over Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in Sioux City, Iowa. And they did it in unsurprising fashion, getting 36 of their 60 points from five non-starters. It’s the kind of depth Coach Jeff Hans has developed in a 30-4 Saints’ season.
Six-foot-one center Alexah Chrisman led the way for the Saints with 12 points and nine rebounds. But she was joined by backups – probably the wrong word for Thomas More now – Summer Secrist (11 points) and fellow non-starters Taylor Clos and Maggie Jones with eight apiece as the Saints overcame horrendous seven-of-18 free throw shooting (38.9 percent) to survive.
Rocky Mountain finishes the season 29-5. After a day off Sunday, Thomas More moves on to Monday (9 p.m.) to face a 31-5 Central Methodist (Mo.) team that ousted defending champ Westmont (Calif.) before beating Marian (Ind.) 72-62 Saturday to advance.
In a game where the score stayed at 57-55 for 3:26 in the final period, TMU used a Zoie Barth jumper after a Courtney Hurst rebound to break a 57-57 tie with 33 seconds left. A Hurst free throw with seven seconds left and a Hurst block at the buzzer provided the 60-58 final.
THOMAS MORE MEN 59, OKLAHOMA WESLEYAN 56
At Kansas City Saturday night, the Thomas More men eliminated top-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan, 59-56, to advance to Monday’s semifinal matchup against a 31-5 Talladega (Ala.) team that eliminated Concordia (Neb.) 77-69.
As has been their way, the 31-4 Saints were led by 6-foot-6 junior Ryan Batte’s 23 points and 11 rebounds. Starter Garren Bertsch added 11 points in an iron-man 40 minutes while 6-9 super-sub Noah Pack dropped in 10 points with seven rebounds in his 27 minutes off the bench. Reid Jolly scored seven points while Casey George scored six.
It was Bertsch’s layup with 57 seconds left that gave Thomas More the winning margin and a 57-52 lead. Batte’s two free throws with five seconds left gave the Saints the final 59-56 margin as Oklahoma Wesleyan missed a pair of three-point buzzer-beater attempts.
Oklahoma Wesleyan plays a unique hockey substitution style with full-team subbing patterns the entire game that takes some getting used to. In the final 10 seconds alone, Oklahoma Wesleyan made eight substitutions.
Pack’s three-point shot gave TMU the lead, 44-42, with 11:56 left that the Saints held on to – barely – the rest of the way.
Photo via Thomas More Athletics
