2014-15 Heartland Conference Men's Basketball All-Tournament TeamSAN ANTONIO, Texas – The second-seeded St. Edward's Men's Basketball team fell to top-seeded St. Mary's, 63-60 in an all-out slugfest Saturday afternoon for the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship. The loss ends the season for St. Edward's, and the Rattlers advance to next week's NCAA South Central Regional.
St. Edward's (22-8) raced out to an early 8-4 lead in the game's first five minutes.
HARLEY NUSSMAN led the way with two buckets for the Hilltoppers.
St. Mary's (20-9) playing in front of its home crowd at Bill Greehey Arena, fought right back, using a 10-2 run over the next four minutes. Marvin Bennett and Isaiah Matthews energized the Rattlers with four points each as the home team took a 14-10 lead.
The lead swelled to as many as seven points at the 4:15 mark, but the five quick points down the stretch from
RAMIR BURTON got the Hilltoppers back in the game. However, a jumper from Binney, along with a steal and jumper at the buzzer by JJ Bolton gave St. Mary's a 29-23 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Rattlers increased their lead to 13 points by the 17:19 mark. The lead would grow to as many as 15 points and stay in double digits for most of the half. The Hilltoppers, like they have so many times this season, rallied to get back in the game.
Down by nine points with 4:51 remaining in the contest, Burton and
JOHN GRAMLICH went to work. Burton registered a free throw and a jumper, while Gramlich added to buckets to bring the Hilltoppers within three points with 1:41 remaining. After St. Edward's induced a turnover by the Rattlers, the opportunity was theirs to make a play, but with 55 seconds remaining, the Hilltoppers committed a costly turnover themselves. St. Mary's would make six-straight free-throws in the final minute to hold off one more rally by St. Edward's as
AUBRIE KING nailed two of his four treys made in the final six seconds for the final margin, 63-60.
Burton led the Hilltoppers in scoring for the second-straight day with 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting. For his efforts in the tournament, Burton was named to the All-Tournament team. Nussman was also selected to the all-tourney team as he produced eight points and eight rebounds, to go along with his game-high four blocks.
St. Edward's season comes to an end, as the Hilltoppers produced a 22-8 overall record. The wins were the most in the six seasons since head coach Andre Cook took over the program. St. Edward's defied the preseason polls in which they were picked ninth in the league. They reached the Heartland Conference's Championship game for the fourth time in school history.
