The Seattle University men’s basketball team completed a historic season with a dominating performance in the title game of the North Dakota Spring Thaw Tournament, defeating the host Fighting Sioux, 76-59, Sunday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
With the victory, Seattle University reached 21 wins for the first time since the 1984-85 season, and the squad’s winning percentage of .724 is the highest for the program since the 1963-64 campaign, when the team finished 22-6 for a .786 winning percentage. also completed a perfect regular season at home, winning all nine games at the as well as the January 1 game at KeyArena.
Freshman Aaron Broussard (), earning his first career start, led SeattleU with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, which included both three-point shots he attempted, along with six rebounds, five assists, and three steals. One night after posting a career-high point total, Mike Boxley () was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field in scoring 15 points and pulling down a team-high nine rebounds on his way to being named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Chris Gweth () collected 14 points, three rebounds, four assists, and three steals and, along with Broussard and Boxley, was named to the all-tournament team. In the final games of their collegiate careers, Austen Powers (, ) earned nine points and seven rebounds, Leigh Swanson (, ) scored eight points, and Shaun Burl () contributed two points, four rebounds, and five assists. Drew Harris () added eight points, three rebounds, and five assists to the winning effort.
scored the first seven points of the game and held a 13-3 lead with 11:43 left in the first half. The Fighting Sioux fought back by hitting several three-pointers, with a Travis Bledsoe three-pointer tying the game at 24-24. Harris answered with a three-pointer, Broussard hit one of his three-pointers at the end of the first half, and never trailed again.
(16-12) came within six points at 45-39 with 13:12 remaining in the second half, but SeattleU slowly pulled away, outscoring the Sioux 17-5 over the next six minutes to take control of the contest. shot 58.5 percent from the field (27-of-46), including 7-of-16 from the three-point line, and 78.3 percent (15-of-19) from the free throw line.
also won the rebounding battle, 31-22, with each team committing 12 turnovers during the evening. shot 41.4 percent from the field (20-of-48), including 10-of-25 from the three-point line, and 75 percent (9-of-12) from the free throw line.
"We had a hungry team looking to redeem ourselves from last week's loss to North Dakota," head coach Joe Callero said. "It was important to everyone to make some new history."
Bledsoe hit four three-pointers to lead the Sioux with 16 points, while Travis Mertens contributed 15 points and five rebounds. Darius Joseph finished with nine points and five assists as saw its five-game winning streak snapped and lost only its third game at home in 15 games this season.
Although not eligible for the NCAA Tournament during the four-year reclassification process, is eligible for the NIT, CBI, and new CollegeInsider.com postseason tournaments starting this season. With a 21-8 record and a Sagarin rating ranking presently at 140, although it should move up with the convincing road win, the team hopes that its story will be good enough to pique the interest of one of those tournaments.
Whenever the season concludes, the team will lose Burl, Powers, Swanson, and Michael Wright () to graduation. But an experienced squad led by Gweth, Harris, Boxley, and Broussard will return for the 2009-2010 season, which will include at least ten home games at KeyArena at the Seattle Center. For 2009-10 season ticket information, go to GoSeattleU.com or call (206) 296-2835.