Redhawks’ Defense Stands Tall in 67-52 Win Over Tommies in First Round of NIT
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Junseok Yeo and Will Helmbrodt smile during action as the Seattle Redhawks defeated the St. Thomas Tommies to advance to the NIT’s second round. Credit: Seattle U Men’s Basketball/Instagram [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - Holding an explosive St. Thomas offense to a season-low on the scoreboard, the Redhawks secured a 67-52 win over the Tommies on Tuesday night at the Connolly Center, notching a massive NIT win to advance to the second round of the tournament.
Along with holding the visiting foe to a season-low in points to set up a date with top-seeded Auburn, the Redhawks limited the Tommies to 38% shooting from the field, including 23% from three-point range, along with producing 21 turnovers. This effort defensively gave Seattle enough time to find its shooting touch in the second half.
In the first half, Seattle shot just 30% from the field, falling behind early. Struggling to find quality looks, whether driving to the lane from the perimeter or feeding Houran Dan or Austin Maurer posted up inside, the Redhawks had just four points in the paint after 20 minutes. St. Thomas, on the other hand, spread out Seattle’s defense and turned their guards loose getting downhill, frequently challenging Seattle at the rim to build a 10-point lead midway through the half.
After a slow 20 minutes on offense, however, Seattle got it rolling in the second half. At about the halfway point of the closing period, head coach Chris Victor turned to a smaller lineup, as Dan and Maurer only played a combined eight minutes after halftime. The move paid tremendous dividends, as outside of Maleek Arington, everyone else in the rotation scored in double figures with small ball working quite nicely.
“We were kind of feeling them out and getting used to their style of play,” Brayden Maldonado said. “Once we started getting the feel of it, we talked it up in the huddle, made some adjustments, and I thought it was really good from there on out.”
Pacing the attack, Maldonado had 15 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Junseok Yeo had 12 points with a trio of three pointers made. John Christofilis and Jojo Murphy each had 10 points off the bench with a pair of three pointers made, helping slowly put away the Tommies in the second half.
But the biggest beneficiary of Seattle’s lineup change was Will Heimbrodt. An extra shooter in the lineup instead of a center opened the spacing up for the forward to attack the basket and begin doing real damage down the stretch. He scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half, helping fuel a 15-7 Seattle run that pushed the lead to 60-48 with under two minutes left to play.
“I loved that energy in the second half,” Will Heimbrodt said afterward. “First half was sloppy. We didn’t play terrible, but it was pretty sloppy, myself included. I was pretty lazy, but we turned it around.”
This adjustment also gave the Tommies trouble on offense. The smaller lineups allowed Seattle to switch every look off of screens, slowing down St. Thomas’s guards off the dribble and cutting off the driving lanes that they exploited in the opening 20 minutes. A Tommies offense that came into this matchup averaging 83 points scored just 21 in the final 20 minutes.
“When our guys got comfortable and understood what they were guarding and kind of got their feet underneath them a little bit, the defense switched,” Victor explained. “We’ve played tough and physical at the defensive end all year. This might be one of our best defensive performances of the season.”
Prolonging their season for another game, the Redhawks will face a far more formidable opponent on March 21 as they travel to face the Auburn Tigers, who advanced past the South Alabama Jaguars in their first round matchup.
