ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team saw its modest two-game winning streak come to an end in its season finale with an 87-64 road loss to Hamline University on Saturday afternoon at Hutton Arena.
Hamline (16-9, 12-4 MIAC), which will be the No. 3 seed in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs, shot an even 50.0 percent (37-for-74) from the field and scored 66 of its 87 points in the paint to complete the regular-season sweep of St. Olaf (4-12, 3-13 MIAC). First year
AJ Uhl led three Oles in double figures in scoring with a season-high 20 points.
Uhl shot 7-for-8 from the field, including 4-for-4 from three-point range, on the way to his fourth double-digit scoring performance in the last five games, with the 20 points surpassing his previous single-game high of 15. Senior
Addison Metcalf added 15 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots in his final game as an Ole, while junior
Kobe Kirk had 13 points.
St. Olaf went 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from beyond the arc in the game, compared to 4-for-10 (40.0 percent) for Hamline, but the Pipers outrebounded the Oles by a 45-28 margin and scored 18 second-chance points off 15 offensive rebounds. Bradley Cimperman led five Pipers with between 10 and 15 points with 15.
Kirk and Uhl combined for 18 of St. Olaf's 26 first-half points, as Hamline took a 37-26 lead at the break after Austin Holt neared a double-double in the first half with 10 points and seven rebounds. After Uhl opened the scoring with a layup, the Pipers scored the next nine points to get out to an early lead.
The Oles held an 11-9 lead with 12:40 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Uhl but went scoreless until a three-pointer by Kirk with 5:35 remaining in the half snapped a 16-0 Hamline run. After trailing by 11 at the break, St. Olaf trimmed its deficit to six at 40-34 two minutes into the second half after back-to-back three-pointers by Kirk and Uhl and got even closer at 46-42 three minutes later, but Hamline took back control and led by as many as 25 in the final minutes.
The game was the final game of the careers of Metcalf and
Dashiel Walker, the lone two seniors on this year's roster for St. Olaf.