Season Comes To A Close As No. 4 Saint Louis Tops No. 5 Minutemen, 86-72

RICHMOND – Tre Mitchell had 30 points to lead a Massachusetts men's basketball team (8-7) making its first Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals appearance since 2016, trimming a 17-point deficit all the way down to eight with eight minutes to go, but a veteran Saint Louis squad (14-5) used a 19-7 run down the stretch and dominated the glass to top UMass and eliminate the Minutemen on Friday afternoon at Robins Center, 86-72.

Mitchell was tremendous for Massachusetts throughout the game, putting the team on his back and keeping the Minutemen within striking distance for most of the night. The Pittsburgh native finished 10-of-16 from the floor, 2-of-3 from three and a perfect 8-of-8 from the line to record his fifth career 30-point game.

It's tied for the fifth most in program history in just 44 career games for the sophomore, and is just the third time a Minuteman has scored 30 points in an A-10 Championship game (Jim McCoy; 35 on Mar. 4, 1989 and Luwane Pipkins; 31 on Mar. 8, 2018).

Freshman Cairo McCrory contributed impactful minutes off the bench, adding nine points and four rebounds, while senior captain Carl Pierre, who started his 99th consecutive game on Friday, finished with eight points.

It was the production from the Billikens on the glass, though, that kept Saint Louis in control for much of the contest. Jordan Goodwin had 18 points and 14 rebounds to go along with four assists while Javonte Perkins had a team-high 25 points and Yuri Collins contributed 17 on 5-of-11 shooting (2-of-5 from deep). SLU held a 45-22 edge in rebounding on night while shooting 49% (30-of-61) from the field.

The Minutemen, looking for a similar start that they got on Thursday, didn't get it early on Friday as UMass opened the game shooting 38% (10-of-26) and 2-of-11 from three while the Billikens came out hot with a 17-of-31 showing from the floor.

Goodwin was a problem from the jump, finishing the half with 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists to lead a SLU team that led by as many as 17 in the first half and outrebounded UMass 22-8.

UMass would fight, though, as Mitchell went to work over the final 10 minutes to finish with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting to help Massachusetts stay in it. The Minutemen would trim the deficit down to seven with three minutes to go after a Cairo McCrory layup before he caused a turnover leading to a Mitchell and-one before SLU ended the half on an 8-2 run to lead by 13 at the break, 46-33.

Massachusetts played SLU even the rest of the way despite having both Noah Fernandes and Ronnie DeGray III in foul trouble for much of the half. Mitchell went to work both down low and up top to keep UMass in it, and a three from Pierre cut the Billiken lead to eight with 8:39 left. But a three from Collins from 7:47 left would put Saint Louis back up by double-digits, where it stayed for the rest of regulation.

The Minutemen conclude the year at 8-7 in a season littered with starts and stops. UMass had 17 games cancelled throughout the campaign, yet managed to secure the No. 5 seed in the Atlantic 10 Championship, its highest since 2008.

Scoreboard

Season Comes To A Close As No. 4 Saint Louis Tops No. 5 Minutemen, 86-72

Team Stats

Tre Mitchell

Javohn Garcia

Cairo McCrory

Carl Pierre

Players Mentioned

Ronnie DeGray III

Noah Fernandes

Cairo McCrory

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

Luwane Pipkins

Players Mentioned

Ronnie DeGray III

Noah Fernandes

Cairo McCrory

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

Luwane Pipkins

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics