A three-pointer from Ryan Gerry ’02 with 1.4 seconds remaining sealed a comeback from a 17-point deficit to give Macalester an 83-82 win over defending MIAC champions St. John’s in Tuesday’s quarterfinal game.

The Johnnies outscored Macalester 26-6 in a nine-minute span to go up 57-40 with 13:59 remaining before the Scots fought back to add yet another highlight to what has been a history-making season in front of a raucous capacity crowd at the Macalester Fieldhouse.

Macalester’s first-ever playoff appearance started off on the wrong foot, as Mike Nester scored an easy layup after just three seconds, and the Johnnies took control of the game early. A three-pointer by Luke Witt put St. John’s up 14-4 after five minutes.

“Before the game, I sensed that the guys were a little bit nervous,” Head coach Curt Kietzer said.

“We weren’t getting rebounds, they were getting second-chance opportunities, we gave them some easy fouls and they made a few free throws,” said forward Ben Van Thorre ’03. “We weren’t doing what we needed to be doing on defense.”

After a timeout, the Scots settled down and began to play more aggressively on both sides of the court. Adam Denny ’04 grabbed three offensive rebounds within one minute of entering the game and the Scots cut the deficit to four when a steal by Chris Palm ’02 set up an end-to-end drive by Erik Jackson ’05.

The Scots started to employ one of their strengths, three-point shooting, and took over the lead. Gerry made the first of his six three-pointers with 11:53 remaining to bring Macalester within three. A trey from Van Thorre cut the Johnnies’ lead to two, and Gerry scored again from behind the arc after Witt’s layup to make the score 22-21 for St. John’s.

On Macalester’s next possession, an offensive rebound by Palm set up a three-pointer by Van Thorre, putting the Scots up for the first time, 24-22 with 9:24 left in the half. Van Thorre’s mid-range jumper after a steal by Jackson gave Macalester a four-point lead, its largest lead of the game.

The game became even soon afterward as both sides went cold on offense.

After Van Thorre put the Scots back up by four, 34-30, with 3:20 remaining in the half, the Johnnies once again went on a run. Mike Nester and Witt scored back-to-back easy layups to put St. John’s up by two with 1:50 left. Witt drained a three-pointer on the next possession to put the Johnnies up by five, and two free-throws by Shawn McGuire with 18 seconds left capped off an 11-0 run as St. John’s took a 41-34 halftime lead.

The Johnnies continued to dominate as the second half began, and Dusty Lamker’s three-pointer on their first possession extended the lead to 10. A jump shot by McGuire put St. John’s up by 14 and a three-pointer by Witt with 13:59 remaining appeared to break the game open for the Johnnies, who took a 17-point lead.

The Scots come back

The Scots, however, refused to give up. “Coach [Kietzer] told us that all we needed to do was have a defensive run,” Van Thorre said. “If we stop them on defense, we have enough good players that we would start to score.”

Macalester immediately fought back, as a layup by Denny and a three-pointer by Gerry, who returned from an injury, cut the lead to 12. The Scots started to work the ball into the post, and as the Johnnies’ defense collapsed down low, Macalester started to find more open looks for three. Gerry responded to a layup by Nester with another three, bringing Macalester within 11.

“Some of the guys were nervous, but a couple of the older guys were upbeat,” Kietzer said. “Gerry stepped things up in the huddle and on the floor with his aggressive play and energy. That lifted us out of our tentative play.”

Jackson stole the ball from Witt and took it down the length of the court for a layup with 11:21 remaining to cut the lead to 9. Jackson scored a three-pointer to bring the score to 61-53, and another layup by Denny made the score 61-55.

The Johnnies brought the ball back down the court and set up a layup by Nester, but Patrick Russell ’03 drilled a three-pointer to make the score 63-58 and the sell-out crowd at the Macalester Fieldhouse exploded with noise.

Nester got behind the Macalester defense again to make the score 65-58, but Russell answered right back with a three-pointer. Denny then stole the ball from Nester on the next possession to set up a layup from Jackson to make the score 65-63 with 7:23 remaining, and what appeared to be a blowout win for St. John’s became an intense nail-biter.

Van Thorre grabbed a defensive rebound and drove down the court, scoring to bring the Scots within one at 68-67 with 5:18 left. However, St. John’s started to regain their grip on the game. A three-pointer by Witt with 4:09 left extended the lead to 72-67. Russell drove the lane and kicked it out to Van Thorre, whose three brought the Scots once again within two, but St. John’s responded by going on a 7-2 run which was capped off by another three by Witt, taking the Johnnies’ lead to 79-72 with just two minutes remaining.

Faced with yet another desperate situation, Macalester again responded with courage. Van Thorre set up Jackson for a three pointer to cut the lead to four, and good inside-out play by the Scots led to a Gerry three from an assist by Denny, cutting the St. John’s lead to 79-78 with 1:15 left. St. John’s called timeout with one minute remaining and the Macalester crowd erupted, sensing that the Scots took over all of the momentum.

McGuire extended the St. John’s lead to 81-78 with 33 seconds remaining with a jump shot. After a timeout, the Scots went for the tie as Gerry fired his 10th three-point attempt with 18 seconds remaining, but it rimmed out. A foul sent McGuire to the line for a one-and-one attempt and the chance to make it a two-possession game with 15 seconds remaining, but he missed the front end, giving the Scots a lifeline as Van Thorre grabbed the rebound.

After the Scots brought the ball down the court, Jackson was fouled and stepped to the line with eight seconds remaining. The first attempt bounced on the rim but eventually fell through. After a St. John’s timeout, Jackson swished the second attempt to make the score 81-80. Jackson immediately fouled Keating-the conference leader in assists but just a 54 percent free-throw shooter-on the inbound pass. The Scots were given yet another boost when Keating missed the first free throw, and after making the second, Macalester brought the ball down to the St. John’s end.

Jackson took the ball on the right side and drove towards the hoop and then sent a pass to Gerry at the top of the 3-point arc. Gerry made no mistake as his three-point attempt with 1.4 seconds left hit nothing but net as the Scots completed their comeback, taking an 83-82 lead.

“I just found the right spot and I was able to get the shot off,” Gerry told the St. Cloud Times. “Fortunately, it went in.”

On the ensuing inbound pass, Keating took the pass and dribbled 35 feet from the basket before sending in a buzzer-beater, but the shot drifted well left and the Macalester fans celebrated by storming the court.

“When we called a timeout with 11 seconds left, [Kietzer] was talking to me and drawing up a play, and I couldn’t even hear a word he was saying,” Van Thorre said. “That’s just great, that was a basketball environment. You feel like you’re playing Division I somewhere, and then the rush at the end of the game, it feels so good.”

Van Thorre went on to say, “We have the best fans and the best gym in the MIAC.”

“We finally have a team out there that's having some success and you can tell they really appreciate it from the way they responded tonight,” said Gerry to the St. Cloud Times about the fan support.

Gerry, who has received national recognition this season for his contributions to the Macalester basketball team and his exceptional academic performance, led the Scots with 20 points, hitting six of his 11 three-point attempts.

“I thought Gerry was the key player for us, not only because of his shot but because of his approach to the game,” Kietzer said. “When we were down and playing on our heels, he picked us up.”

Van Thorre scored 19 points and Jackson scored 14 points while dishing out six assists coming off the bench. Denny scored 10 points and grabbed three offensive rebounds in just 10 minutes of play coming off the bench.

In a 49-point second half, the Scots shot 58 percent from the field, including 53 percent three-point shooting. Macalester made nine three pointers after they fell behind by 17 points.

Despite outrebounding Macalester 34-22, St. John’s were unable to put Macalester away, turning the ball over 15 times on the night. The Johnnies had a dismal free throw shooting performance in the second half, shooting 9-for-16 after making all eight attempts in the first half. Witt led the Johnnies with 26 points and grabbed seven boards. Nester added 18 points and seven boards while McGuire scored 16 and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Keating had 12 assists on the night while scoring seven points.

In the other quarterfinal, third-seeded Bethel defeated sixth-seeded Carleton, 72-53. Macalester traveled to top-seeded St. Thomas, ranked fifth in the nation, in the semifinals last night but the result did not come in before press time. In their last meeting at the Schoenecker Arena on Feb. 11, the Scots fell to the Tommies, 86-80 in triple-overtime.

A Macalester win would send them to the finals, where they would travel to the winner of second-seeded Gustavus Adolphus (ranked seventh in the nation) and Bethel. The final takes place at the highest-seeded remaining team tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.