Midland men's basketball survives late slip-up against Saint Mary

Midland avoided a complete deje vu moment Tuesday night, pulling out an 88-85 win over Saint Mary.

"Just really proud to have some confidence and knowing that we can win a close game game because I felt last year were in a lot of these games last year and maybe it didn't go our way and the other night didn't go our way," said Midland coach Tyler Erwin. "So it's really good to bounce back to make enough plays when we needed to to get a win."

The second half Tuesday night felt eerily like a reenactment of Midland's loss to Sterling. The Warriors led by 14 a minute into the second half Tuesday—it was a seven point lead Saturday.

Both were lost with two minutes to play.

Saint Mary took its first and only lead of the night at 83-82 on a jumper with 2:25 to play.

Freshman Trey McCain gave Midland the lead back for good with a top of the key three, to cap off his 16 point night, with two minutes to play.

"He doesn't hesitate," Erwin said. "That's what I love about him. He's a fierce competitor....He didn't hesitate, like he went right into and maybe got fouled at the top of the shot, there. Huge shot."

The Warriors got back-to-back stops on the defensive end before Jeff Rozelle sank a pair of free throws to give Midland a four-point cushion, which survived despite three missed free throws in two trips to the line and a last-second three-point attempt by the Spires.

"At the end of this game, we kind of got some timely stops, made some timely plays," Erwin said.

Midland was hampered in the loss by 19 turnovers, leading to 20 points for the Spires.

"We've really harped on playing off two feet and taking care of the ball, but these last couple of games, I'll give Sterling credit and Saint Mary credit, they've got length and they got hands on balls," Erwin said. "(Saint Mary is) a good defensive team, but we can be better. I felt at times it wasn't them causing the turnover, more us just not being strong with the basketball."

Erwin joked Orr got the bad kind of a triple-double, finishing with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 turnovers to go along with five assists.

Midland finished with six players in double-figures. Ryan Larsen led the Warriors with 19 points, eclipsing 1,000 career points.

Luke Gdowski and Cole Petersen both added a dozen points each and Rece Kissinger tallied 10 points.

Midland now gets its first crack at a conference game Saturday after a 4-1 start to the season, hosting Briar Cliff.

"We've been tested," Erwin said. "These last two games have really prepared us."

The Chargers are 2-3 and are coming off a 112-104 loss to Mayville State.

Tip-off is set for 3:45 p.m.