Men's Basketball edges Carleton, 63-61

February 14, 2004
Nick Schader's putback with 29 seconds left lifted the St. Thomas men's basketball team to a 63-61 win at Carleton in MIAC play.

The Tommies (11-12 overall, 9-9 MIAC), who shot 54% from the field, have won six of their last eight games after a 3-7 conference start. They also avenged a 33-point January loss at home to Carleton. They also won their fifth road game in a six-game span.

The victory, coupled with St. John's 10-point loss to Gustavus, sends Coach Steve Fritz' Tommies into the conference playoffs for the 16th time in 17 seasons. The Toms could finish as high as the No. 5 seed if they win their last two and Carleton loses its last two.

The Knights missed four close shots in the last 10 seconds with a chance to force overtime.

Neal Anderson made four 3-pointers and had 19 points to lead the Toms. Joey Shimek added 15 and Schader scored 12 for the Toms. Two unheralded Tommies came up huge -- junior Ryan Hatteberg had a career-high eight points in 11 minutes off the bench, and sophomore center Nate Worrell had eight rebounds and five blocked shots in 29 minutes.

St. Thomas plays its last home game Wednesday vs. St. Olaf (7:30 p.m.) and finishes the regular-season Feb. 21 at Bethel. With more more victory, the Toms can clinch their 24th consecutive winning or .500 season in MIAC play.

see link to Knights story and box score here