Box Score To check out interviews with Head Coach Jeff Oseth and senior Ashton Harrell visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyZyujeopPc

CROOKSTON, Minn. - Friday night's game at Lysaker Gymnasium between the University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team and the University of Minnesota Duluth came down to the very last shot, but the Golden Eagles would hang on for an 87-85 win. The Bulldogs would come back from down by as many as 14 in the second half led largely by UMC's late struggles from the free throw line and the play of Jordan Reetz and Reece Zoelle.

The Golden Eagles were guided on the night by a career-high 34 points on 9-of-13 shooting as Ashton Harrell (Sr., G, Houston, Texas/Sports and Rec Management) could not miss for the Golden Eagles. Harrell was an unblemished 4-of-4 from beyond the arc and a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe. Harrell's 34 points bests his 29 in a win over St. Cloud State University last season.

The Golden Eagles improve to 4-2 (1-1 NSIC) with Friday's win, getting their first NSIC win of the season, this time in the second conference weekend of the season. Last season, it wouldn't be until the last weekend of the season when UMC defeated St. Cloud State University, showing an improved squad for Coach Jeff Oseth in the 2013-14 campaign. Minnesota Duluth, who has been bit by the injury bug this season after losing NSIC North Preseason Player of the Year Brett Ervin, as well as many others, falls to 2-4 (0-2 NSIC) on the season.

In addition to Harrell, Kevin Larson (Jr., G, New Ulm, Minn./Sports and Rec Management) had a banner night for the Golden Eagles threading the needle for the Golden Eagles on several passes to finish with seven assists on the night. Larson added 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting. The Golden Eagles would finish the night with 15 assists and just seven turnovers as they did an impressive job of finding the open man.

Tyler West, Jr. (Jr., F, Portland, Ore./Communications) added 15 points, while Brandon Burns (Sr., F, Baton Rouge, La./Sports and Rec Management) added 13 assists. The Golden Eagles shot 27-of-47 from the field for 57.4 percent. In addition, they were an impressive 8-of-15 from downtown for 53.3 percent. After hitting their first 14 free throws, the Golden Eagles went cold late, connecting on just 9-of-21 attempts in the last 10 minutes of the game to finish the game shooting 69.4 percent from the line.

Reetz and Zoelle would account for 60 of 85 points for Minnesota Duluth on the night. Reetz led the way with 35 points on 10-of-16 from the field, including going 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. Zoelle added 25 points on 10-of-23 shooting. Peter Crawford would chip in 13. The Bulldogs injury struggles continued Friday as both Kristofer Jackson and Justin Byrd left the game with injuries and did not return.

Minnesota Duluth would finish the game shooting 29-of-60 for 48.3 percent and were 9-of-26 for 34.6 percent from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs out-rebounded UMC 32 to 27 on the night led by Zoelle with 10, as he completed a double-double. John Hughes (So., F, Tualatin, Ore./Management) led the Golden Eagles with seven rebounds off of the bench.

The Golden Eagles would control things early on in the game as they went into half-time with a 39-28 led over the Bulldogs led by the impressive play of Harrell, who would miss just two baskets in the first half, going 6-of-8 from the field, 3-of-3 from trey and 4-of-4 from the line to have 19 points at the break. The Golden Eagles shot 46.4 percent in the first frame and 55.6 percent from beyond the arc. Reetz led the Bulldogs with eight at the break while Zoelle had seven.

Minnesota Crookston would continue their control of the game early in the second and appeared in control especially after an old fashioned three-point play from Harrell, followed by a four-point play by Harrell early in the second. The Golden Eagles would lead by 14 after a Lucas Reller (Jr., G, Lead, S.D./Management) trey, their largest of the game.

However, UMD would begin to chip in from that mark as that was UMC's lead with 11:56 remaining. The Bulldogs would get UMC's advantage under 10 after a lay-up from Crawford with 9:49 remaining. UMC would go ahead by 11 again after a Larson jumper with 6:19 left and would extend it to 12 after a Tomas Parker (Jr., F, Pequot Lakes, Minn./Management) jumper. UMD would then score six of the next eight points to cut the advantage to seven following a Zoelle jumper with 2:54 remaining.

UMC would go 7-of-14 down the strech as UMD climbed back into the thick of things following a Zoelle three with 45 seconds left and a Reetz trey with 24 seconds left to cut the advantage to two. After two missed Hughes free trhwos with eight seconds left, UMD would get one last chance. Zoelle put up a three-pointer at the buzzer but the shot was very well defended on the left wing by two UMC defenders and would be errant giving UMC the 87-85 victory.

The Golden Eagles will host St. Cloud State University at 6 p.m. Sat., Dec. 7 at Lysaker Gymnasium. UMC defeated then-No. 22 St. Cloud State last season.

 For more information, visit the Golden Eagle Athletics website at www.goldeneaglesports.com.

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The University of Minnesota Crookston is an NCAA Division II Institution and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The Golden Eagle Equestrian team is a member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).