Blue Devils bounce back to take one-point win over Skidmore

UW-Stout 63, Skidmore College 62 (Box Score) | Archived Video | Coach Andrist Interview

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (December 30, 2015) - Led by John Keefe (So, Medford) from the floor and Cory Speer (Jr, Elgin, Minn) from the free throw line in the final 90 seconds, UW-Stout bounced back from a loss less than 24 hours earlier to hold off Skidmore College and take a 63-62 win at South Point Arena in the D3hoops.com Classic Wednesday.

In a game where the lead was never more than six points for either team, the Blue Devils (4-6) came away with just what they needed for the win.

With the score tied at 56-56 and less than two minutes remaining in the contest, Keefe, who was named to the all-tournament team, went baseline on a bounce pass from Jacob Nordstrom (Jr, Melrose) to put the Blue Devils up, 58-56, with 1:28 remaining. Keefe then gave Stout a four point lead, hitting a jumper on top of the key just inside the 3-point arc with 20 seconds left on the clock.

Then, in what seemed like an eternity with all of the timeouts called after every point, Stout would record the win.

The Thoroughbreds' Erik Sanders hit a jumper to pull his team within two, 60-58, at 12 seconds. Speer was immediately fouled off the inbound and hit the back end of a double bonus to give Stout a 61-58 lead with 11 seconds seconds left.

Skidmore's Edvinas Rupkus connected on two freebies two seconds later for a 61-60 Stout lead. Speer was fouled again, but this time drained both shots with eight seconds left. Rupkus was fouled and made both his attempts for a 63-62 Stout lead with four seconds left.

The Blue Devils lost the inbound and the Throughbreds (5-3) kicked the ball out to Martin Bedulski at the top of the key. Junior captain Brett Ahsenmacher (Annandale, Minn) played Bedulskij perfectly, pushing his arms straight up without causing a foul, slightly altering the shot, which fell just short of the rim as the buzzer sounded and Stout escaped with the win.

Jalen Patterson (So, Lauderdale, Minn) led the Blue Devils with 15 points. Ahsenmacher finished with 11 points - nine in the first half - and Keefe pitched in 10 points. The Blue Devils connected on 9-of-21 from 3-point range, with Ahsenmacher hitting three and Keefe two. Stout shot 18-of-47 from the floor and hit 18-of-33 from the line.

Skidmore also had three players in double digits, led by the freshman Rupkus, who led all scorers with 21 points. Sanders finished with 18 and Bedulskij 13. The Thoroughbreds were 19-of-54 from the floor, 9-of-27 from 3-point range and 15-of-17 from the line.

Stout held a 37-30 advantage off the glass with Speer pulling down a career-best nine rebounds, seven in the second half.

Stout is off until Wednesday, Jan. 6 when they open WIAC play by hosting UW-Whitewater at 7 p.m.