CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team defeated University of Jamestown 74-65 in their home opener Wednesday night at Lysaker Gymnasium. It was the Golden Eagles first victory of the young season as they moved to 1-2 on the year. It was also Coach Dan Weisse's first win as a college head coach.

UMC capitalized on 42 trips to the free throw line, making 32 of them. They also shot very well from beyond the arc going 10-24. Derrick Redd, Jr. (Jr., G, Menifee, Calif./Sports and Rec Management) highlighted this by going 3-of-3 from deep en route to 22 points. He also grabbed some big rebounds down the stretch for the Golden Eagles with eight boards. Tyler West, Jr. (Sr., G/F, Portland, Ore./Communications) snagged 9 rebounds and went 11-16 from the free throw line.
 
The big difference maker for UMC was neutralizing Jamestown's leading scorer Brequan Tucker. He shot only 5-18 from the field including 1-10 from three. Taylor Newton picked up the slack for Tucker by scoring 12 points and chipping in five assists. Vlad Stoicoviciu came off the bench and scored 8 and grabbed 8 rebounds to provide a spark for Jamestown.
 
Redd got the scoring going for the Golden Eagles on the first possession with a lightly contested layup. Jamestown answered back with a Logan Brown three-pointer. The three-pointer was a large part of both offenses in the early going with both teams taking five and making three in the first six minutes.
 
Golden Eagles struggled to get back defensively early on while adjusting to the high-paced Jamestown offense trailing 15-12 with 14 minutes to play in the first half.
 
UMC retook the lead 18-17 with 11:48 left in the half on Jim Warmack's (Fr., F/C, East Grand Forks, Minn./Management) first basket of the night. The lead switched eight more times before the end of the first half. UMC entered the break with a 37-34 lead.
 
In the first half the Golden Eagles were led by Redd's 11 points and three assists. The three-pointer was a major force for UMC with six different players making three-pointers. West cleaned the boards grabbing 5 rebounds.
 
Jamestown's high scorer of the first half was Newton with 8 points. Cedric Smith claimed 4 rebounds to lead the Jimmies. Despite starting off 3-5 from deep, Jamestown finished the half 3-13.
 
The lead changes continued into the second half. With 13:41 left in the game, the Golden Eagles led 44-43 after a lane violation negated West's second free throw. After a Matt Wingo three, Jamestown looked to extend their lead when John Hughes took a big charge to give UMC more energy.
 
At the second media timeout, the Golden Eagles led 52-51.
 
With 10 minutes left in the game, the Golden Eagles were in the double bonus with Jamestown committing 10 fouls.
 
Redd regained the lead for UMC with a step back three from the wing to make the score 57-55. In less than a minute, Jamestown had the lead back 59-57. Lucas Reller's (Sr., G, Lead, S.D./Management) second three of the game gave the Golden Eagles the lead again at 62-59.
 
With 1:54 remaining in the game, Giorgi Koguashvili (Sr., G, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia/Agricultural Business) earned a trip to the line after a dribble-drive into the center of the lane. He extended the lead to 4 after sinking both free throws. Redd pulled down another rebound in traffic after Jake Hagler missed a three pointer.
 
Brown fouled out with 58 seconds remaining with Jamestown needing to foul to extend the game. Tucker pulled Jamestown within 5 after hitting his first three of the night. Finally, UMC started consistently sinking their free throws and put the game to bed with a final score of
 
On Saturday, the Golden Eagles welcome Crossroads College of Rochester, Minnesota to Lysaker Gymnasium. Crossroads comes to Crookston with a 1-6 record and fell 85-65 to Jamestown this past weekend.