TULSA, Okla. – #9/#9 St. Edward's Men's Basketball stormed out of the gate, opening the game on a 14-0 run to down Rogers State Saturday and advance to the Heartland Conference Tournament Championship game for the first time since 2014-15.
COREY SHERVILL got the game started right with a three from the wing on the opening possession. The run was fueled by RSU turnovers as the Hilltoppers forced six turnovers during the 14-0 run to kick off the game.
Rogers State finally got in the game and cut SEU's lead to nine, but the Hilltoppers embarked on a 12-1 run to go up 19, 26-7, with 10:26 remaining in the half.
With 1:48 to go in the half the Hillcats pulled within nine points, 39-30, but the St. Edward's defense turned up the heat to send the Hilltoppers into the locker room with an 11-point lead, 41-30.
SEU had seven blocks in the half including two from
LOGAN COOK in just one minute of play, while forcing 14 first half Hillcat turnovers.
Shervill got hot again in the second half, hitting a pair of threes to put the Hilltoppers up by 20, 58-38, with 13 minutes left in the game.
St. Edward's lead never dropped below 20 in the final 11 minutes as
ASHTON SPEARS put an exclamation point on the win with a breakaway windmill dunk.
WATCH: Spears' windmill dunk
Four Hilltoppers posted double-digit points in the win, led by Shervill with 16 points on 6-14 shooting from the floor and 3-6 from long range. Spears added 15 with seven boards,
LUCAS DORIA 12 points, six rebounds and
DORIAN LOPEZ 11 points, 11 boards and two blocks.
SEU advances to the Heartland Conference championship game for the first time since the 2014-15 season and improves to 27-3 on the year. They face the winner of semifinal game #2 between Dallas Baptist and Oklahoma Christian.
