St. Bonifacius, Minn. — Crown men's basketball team struggled today in a game that ended up not mattering in the UMAC Playoff Picture. Crown, having birthed a playoff spot last weekend against Northland, was helped by the Lumberjacks (who defeated UM-Morris) for Crown to be able to hold on to their four seed and ability to host the wild-card game on Monday. Crown had (at the beginning of the day) the potential to move up to the #3 seed, but with a Northwestern win against Martin Luther, Crown stayed put, and this game against the St. Scholastica Saints didn't end up contributing to the bracket. 

Crown held the lead at halftime against the Saints, up 41-34, but St. Scholastica had a ferocious comeback in the second half where the Saints outscored the Storm by 30 points. First-year Christian Moore led the team in scoring for the first time this season with 18 points, shooting 6/11 from the field and hitting three of his four three-point attempts. Close behind was Tim Wendel, who had 15 points, albeit an inefficient 15 after only shooting 4/16 from the field and 1/9 from three-point range. Both Wendel and Moore were a rebound away from a double-double with nine each. 

Senior Trey Peace had 13 points on 4/7 from the field and was 4/4 from the free throw line, and is now far away from his early season free throw woes. Peace also added a team-high four assists in the match. Fellow senior Austin VanDerHeyden only had five points on 4/5 from the field, as he only played 24 minutes as he battled early foul trouble. Mychael Kimbrough made his only field goal attempt and scored three points in the matchup with the Saints.

While a bittersweet senior night for the seniors, they get another home game on Monday with UM-Morris coming to the Wild Athletic Center in St. Boni for the opening round of the UMAC Playoffs. Morris is coming off of a two-game losing streak after falling to Northland and Northwestern on Saturday and Wednesday. Crown hopes to bounce back from the loss to St. Scholastica and continue the positive momentum of winning seven of their past nine UMAC games (including a win over the Cougars.)