It’s nearing a decade since the last time the Hamline men’s basketball team graced the MIAC with its presence in the playoffs. If this season’s team has anything to say about it, that streak won’t last much longer.

With their 79-74 overtime victory over the Concordia Cobbers last Saturday, the Pipers are just one win away from clinching a playoff spot.

“We have a huge stretch of three games to close out the season and see if we can solidify a playoff spot,” Head Coach Jim Hayes said. “It start[ed] with the game against Concordia and it will determine whether we make the playoffs.”

While the Pipers likely wish they hadn’t needed the dramatics of overtime to claim a win against the Cobbers, they will take any win they can get. Hamline is currently the fifth seed in a six-team MIAC playoff field, and with two games remaining, they need one last win to solidify their playoff spot.

“It’s as much a mental grind as it is a physical grind and the younger players are learning to handle the marathon of a schedule,” Hayes said. “They are working to maintain focus and consistency all the way through.”

Of their ten losses this season, five have seen the Pipers either tied or ahead of their opponents with three and a half minutes left in the game.

“It’s really about consistency,” Hayes said. “We’ve done a good job of taking care of the basketball but we need more consistency on the defensive end.”

Even more interestingly, the Pipers have done better on the road; the Pipers currently sport an 8-4 away from Hutton Arena and just a 5-6 record inside their home court. The Pipers’ road wins include impressive wins over St. Thomas, the top team in the conference, Carleton and Concordia, all of whom are expected to make the playoffs.

“Our goal is to contend every game as if it’s the game we need to win to make the playoffs,” sophomore forward Isaac Brooks said. “We had a really good start where we showed the kind of high-level basketball we can play and we haven’t played to that level over the last six or seven games. While that’s disappointing, our season from a larger point of view is right where our expectations were.”

Brooks was one of the key players in Hamline’s win over the Cobbers last Saturday. Fourteen of his 21 points came after halftime when Hamline was battling desperately to hold and regain the lead in a back-and-forth affair. Junior forward Kalu Abosi added 15 points for the Pipers, and junior guard Dylan See-Rockers chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.

The Concordia game was a nice bounceback effort for the Pipers after getting blown out by St. Thomas in Hutton Arena, 66-83.

“We didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had,” Brooks said. “We missed a lot of shots we would normally make. [St. Thomas] is the top team in the conference and they were struggling early in the year and now they’re rolling.”

The Pipers defeated the Tommies on St. Thomas’ home court seven games into their season for a statement win the program very much needed for other teams around the conference to sit up and pay attention to Hamline.

Now the Pipers turn their attention to their final two games of the season. If they win one or both of the games remaining on their schedule, they’re in the playoffs. If St. Olaf loses one of their remaining three games, the Pipers are in.

The Pipers are hoping it doesn’t come down to their regular season finale against Macalester to make it into the playoffs, but they will be ready if it does.

“It’s not tough at all,” Brooks said when asked whether it was tough to have such meaningful games being on the road this late in the season. “It’s why you play the game. It’s way better to play meaningful games than meaningless games; every game is an opportunity to prove yourself and show what you can do.”

The Pipers return to action tonight in Collegeville, Mn. as they take on St. John’s, with tip-off occurring at 7:00 p.m. The Pipers wrap-up their regular season schedule and likely their home schedule this Saturday as they welcome Macalester to Hutton Arena. Tip-off for that matchup will take place at 3:00 p.m.