Macalester's surprising run ends with loss to St. John's in MIAC men's basketball final

COLLEGEVILLE, MINN. – The clock struck midnight late on a Sunday afternoon for a sixth-seeded Macalester men's basketball team that lost the MIAC tournament title game 75-71 at top-seeded St. John's.

The Scots hadn't reached the MIAC playoffs since 2005 and had played in a conference tournament championship game just once, in 2004.

Yet they reached Sunday's title game by winning three consecutive games — home and away — that included upsets at third-seeded Carleton and second-seeded Augsburg on Friday that sent them on Sunday to lively Sexton Arena.

That's where the Johnnies trailed by seven points early in the second half and led by seven late before winning their third consecutive MIAC tournament.

Afterward, fourth-year Macalester coach Abe Woldeslassie sat alone on his team's bench, head in hands. A fan and administration contingent that traveled by the hundreds in cars and three buses patted him on the back and offered congratulations on a 15-13 season that equals the games won in his first two years.

Two days earlier, they had stormed the court in victory at Augsburg, which had beaten Macalester 92-55 in January.

"Amazing season," Woldeslassie said minutes later Sunday.

St. John's learns Monday morning who they'll play and where they're headed — if anywhere — when the NCAA Division III tournament bracket is announced.

On Sunday, the Johnnies cut down the net and celebrated victory over an opponent that had been unbeatable and seemingly charmed in the playoffs until then.

"We were totally aware of that," St. John's sophomore guard Jared Rainey said. "We had the mind-set everybody had us written off. That just gave us a little extra motivation to go out there and just take care of a business."

So a top-seed underdogs to a sixth seed?

"In our heads, we were," Rainey said.

The Johnnies' timely three-point shooting — Rainey hit two, big man Carson Schoeller four — and second-half defensive resolve made them champions yet again.

The Scots started their season 3-0, lost nine of their next 10 games, then won 11 of 14 entering Sunday.

It was a winning season, in more ways than one, particularly given their hoops history.

Macalester senior guard Gabe Ramos returned for an extra season that proved more eventful than he imagined.

"It was crazy," Ramos said. "Magical a little bit."

Woldeslassie made settle-down gestures and shouted for poise, discipline and thought during a second half when his young team — they start two sophomores and a freshman — lost that seven-point lead.

"We felt like today was our day in a lot of ways," he said. "We had so much momentum and confidence — and we still do. But when you're trying to knock off the No. 1 seed, you've got to be a bit better."

St. John's coach Pat McKenzie called Macalester good enough, more than charmed. He said the Scots' tournament run showed "how good they are and how well they're playing."

"That's what makes this time of year so compelling," he said. "You're not here unless you're playing well. It makes them especially dangerous."

Woldeslassie played his final two seasons at Macalester, then pursued coaching for a decade before the school brought him back with a 2018 hire. The Scots went 3-22 the season before he arrived — including a nonconference loss in which they gave up 100 points in the first half — and won seven and eight games his first two season before COVID struck his third.

"Now we've gotten a taste, we know what it's like," he said. "If we have to come back on the road next year in a championship game, we've already been there. The bar is raised. There's so much support now in our community for our program, support I've never seen as a player and now a coach. We've just got to carry that on."