CHICAGO, Ill. -- The University of Chicago men's basketball team came up just short in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament with a heart-breaking 72-71 loss to #7 Saint John's (MN).
For the first eight minutes of the game, neither team was able to take control in the back-and-forth affair, but the Maroons would explode with a 10-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 26-16 following a pair of triples by
Eamonn Kenah and
Thomas Kurowski.
The Johnnies would continue to fight back, but they could not cut the lead to single digits until a quick 7-0 run following the final media timeout of the first half leveled the game at 37 for the first tie of the game. UChicago would jump right back in front, however, as another
Eamonn Kenah triple and a layup by
Daniel Cochran closed the half with a 42-37 advantage for the Maroons.
In the second half, the UChicago lead hovered around three to six points for most of the half until another 7-0 run for the Johnnies gave the visitors their first lead of the game at 59-58 with 8:52 remaining.
Over the next six minutes, the lead would change hands five different times with five tied scores, and the lead was never larger than two points on either side for the seven-minute stretch until the Johnnies extended it to three at 70-67 with 2:03 remaining.
Eamonn Kenah would continue his excellent performance with back-to-back tough buckets in the final two minutes to cut a pair of the three-point Saint John's leads down to one, the latter with just 46 seconds remaining. After an excellent block by
Daniel Cochran on the defensive end of the floor to keep the deficit at one, the Maroons had one final chance at the buzzer, but the layup wouldn't fall and UChicago fell 72-71.
Thomas Kurowski led the team with 20 points, and
Eamonn Kenah added 16 points and a team-high 7 rebounds.
Phillip Lawrence,
Daniel Cochran, and
Joe Berry also finished in double figures for the Maroons.
The Maroons finish the season 18-8 overall after reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 17 years.
