Box Score The historic season continues for the University of the Sciences men's basketball team as they earned their first ever NCAA National Tournament win, defeating St. Anselm College 73-57 at Butova Gym in Springfield, Massachusetts on Saturday.
Garret Kerr (Middle township HS/Avalon, N.J.) scored a career-high 40 points in leading the #6 seed Devils (25-5) to victory over the #3 seed Hawks (19-10). The win was not only their first NCAA Tournament victory but their first ever national tournament post-season win, having gone winless in four national tournament appearances as a member of the NAIA. The Devils will play #2 seed Southern New Hampshire in the East Region Semi-Finals on Sunday, March 15, 2015 at 5:00 p.m.
Kerr got off to a slow start but caught fire as the Devils began to put some distance between themselves and the Hawks as the first half wound down. The senior forward connected on his last four shots of the period, three of which were three pointers and the final one coming from NBA range with a hand in his face as the buzzer sounded. Garret finished the half with 19 points and went on to score 21 more in the second half to establish a new career-high. He finished the game shooting 15-29 from the field, 3-8 from three-point range and 7-10 from the free throw line (7-7 in 2nd half). He also grabbed 14 rebounds to notch his 26th double-double of the season and 88th of his career, the most by any current player at any NCAA level.
Sho Da-Silva (Bishop Eustace HS/Moorestown, N.J.) came off the bench to score 15 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Younger brother Flo Da-Silva (Bishop Eustace HS/Moorestown, N.J.) added 11 points (3-4 FG, 5-6 FT) and had four steals in 19 minutes on the court. The Devils got another steady game from point guard T-John Casiello (Wildwood Catholic HS/Wildwood Crest, N.J.), who dished out eight assists.
The Hawks scored the first four points as the Devils appeared a bit nervous on the court in the opening minutes. The team battled back and Kerr's jumper at the 13:53 mark gave them their first lead. St. Anselm's Chris Santo scored on the Hawks next possession, giving the Hawks a one point lead before the Devils opened some breathing room with a 13-6 run to lead 20-14. A triple from Ryan Hartung cut the lead in half and then Kerr took over, scoring 11 of the Devils 13 points in a 13-4 upswing that took Sciences into the locker room with a 33-21 lead.
The Devils continued their run with an 8-2 spurt to open the second half, extending the lead to 41-23. St. A's Victor Joshua followed with a triple, triggering a 14-6 run by the Hawks cutting the lead to seven, 47-40 by the under-8 media timeout and breathing some life into the St. Anselm fan base. The Devils came out of the timeout focused as Flo Da-Silva got a layup and Kerr a steal and layup AND-1 to push the lead back to 12, 52-40 with 7:01 remaining. The two teams traded baskets for the next four minutes before the Devils started to pull away again, getting their offense at the free throw line. Kerr and the Da-Silvas combined for 11 of 14 from the line over the final three minutes, outscoring the Hawks 13-7 over the stretch to pull off the upset with a 16-point win.
The Devils turned in the better shooting effort, making 26 of 60 from the field (43.3%) while the Hawks were 22-58 (37.9%). Both teams did fairly well at the free throw line with USciences making 18-25 (72%) and St. Anselm 11-15 (73.3%). The Devils limited the St. Anselm offense to just two three point field goals (they average 8.8). The advantage on the glass slightly favored the Devils (40-37) and Sciences made the most of 15 Hawk turnovers, scoring 20 points (The Devils had 11 turnovers leading to just eight St. A's points).
