A record setting win for a home finale and a double digit loss for their season finale is how the Piper men’s basketball team ends an up and down 2014-2015 season with an 11-14 (8-12 MIAC) record.

“We grew, it was just kind of up and down. There was a bunch of games where we lost games that we should have won and there’s games where we just killed it,” senior forward Austin Johnson said. “It’s all about breaking through that wall and completing the tasks.”

The Pipers played their final home game of the season on Monday, Feb. 16. The Pipers defeated the Augsburg Auggies 86-75 and tied a school record for shots made from the perimeter as they tallied a total of 15. Johnson made three three-point field goals and scored 13 points as his counterpart, senior forward Dior Ford, scored 16 points and hit four from the perimeter.

“It was really fun, especially since we came out and we were lights outs for the first couple of minutes,” Johnson said. “Everyone was shooting well…it was an exciting game to play.”

Johnson said he had mixed feelings while walking off Hutton Arena for the final time in his career.

“It was kind of surreal. It was kind of a little sad but also good because we left off a win on a high note and a record. I couldn’t complain. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Johnson said.

After Augsburg, the final task was for this squad to play the St. Thomas Tommies on Feb. 21 for their final game of the season. Head coach of the St. Thomas Tommies men’s basketball team, John Tauer, revealed his squad prepared for the Pipers as if they were a playoff team.

“We look at them as a playoff team that just had some unfortunate bounces along the way,” Tauer said.

In the Pipers finale against the nationally ranked Tommies, Ford came out and scored the team’s first six points as he started the afternoon three of three from the field. The Pipers were hanging with the Tommies and held an early lead as they went up 19-18 with eight minutes remaining in the half. Unfortunately for the Pipers, the Tommies went on a 14-2 scoring run in the next five minutes of the game. Once they had the momentum in front of their crowd they were able to expand their lead to 40-27 going into halftime.

“We’re going to need to get some stops. We can’t give up 40 points in a half,” Hayes said going into halftime.

In the second half, the Tommies were able to pull away with an 89-62 victory over the Pipers. At the end of the game, the Pipers seniors Ford, Johnson, Ben Cooper and Marshall Jestings celebrated with each other to embrace their final collegiate game together. After all, one thing that will last beyond their playing careers is their friendship.

“I came here my sophomore year and built relationships [with my teammates] that’s lasted since then,” Johnson said. “Those are maintained after basketball season and we all get along; we all hang out if not everyday, almost everyday.”

Johnson said his favorite memory as a basketball player for the Pipers was the team’s trip to his hometown California when they went down there for a tournament. He also said the in between times with his teammates is what he will remember the most.

“Just being with the guys out of Minnesota…obviously cracking jokes with [teammates] on the road, playing songs when we win games, everyone getting hyped in the locker room, [and] funny things that happened in practice is all things that I’ll never forget,” Johnson said.