Box Score

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston squandered a nine-point lead with 11 minutes remaining as they fell 98-78 to St. Cloud State University to open NSIC play in St. Cloud, Minn. The Huskies would go on a 30-10 run in the final eight minutes after the game was knotted up at 68-68 with 8:09 left in the game. The run was ignited by six three-pointers during that stretch run for the Huskies. That along with turnovers and second-chance points would do the Golden Eagles in after a strong start to the evening.

"Two things really killed us down the stretch," said Head Coach Dan Weisse. "Turnovers killed us because they gave them an opportunity to get into a transition game and that is what they want to do. They started making shots because we had a lot of turnovers. The second thing is we gave up 19 offensive rebounds. How do you expect to win the game when you have 15 turnovers and you give up 19 offensive rebounds. That is something we have to address right now and get back at it and get back after it tomorrow."

The Golden Eagles would play nearly 30 minutes of strong basketball as they hung right with a team that was picked to finish second in the NSIC North and third overall in the preseason rankings. Minnesota Crookston would give up 19 offensive rebounds to the Huskies, which would lead to 26 second-chance points. UMC would also finish with 15 turnovers on the game. 

 "We played about 30 minutes of pretty good basketball," Weisse said. "We were up eight before that storm hit down the stretch. What I saw out there is that when they made a couple of shots that snowballed on us. That certainly showed our youth out there because the snowball got pretty darn big in the final eight minutes. It kept on coming. We need to play our game. We have to fix that and I think we will."

Minnesota Crookston moves to 3-3 (0-1 NSIC) with Friday's loss. St. Cloud State improved to 4-5 overall and moves to 1-0 in NSIC play. 

Minnesota Crookston would look to 24 points from Harrison Cleary (Fr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) on 6-of-11 from the field and a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe. Cleary would have 16 of his points in the second half. On the opposite side though Cleary would have seven turnovers on the game. Chase Knickerbocker (So., G/F, Annandale, Minn.) added 12 points on 4-of-9 from the field. Kobe Critchley (So., G, Roseville, Minn.) had 12 points and three assists.

Gable Smith (R-So., F, Lodi, Wis.) would finish with eight points and seven rebounds, while Connor Gamble (R-Fr., G, Stillwater, Minn.) came off the bench for eight points.

UMC would shoot the ball well, finishing 22-of-43 for 51.2 percent from the field. They would go 5-of-11 for 45.5 percent from beyond the arc. They were also phenomenal from the charity stripe going 29-of-32 for 90.6 percent.

The Huskies were led by a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds from Gage Davis. UMC limited Davis to just five points and five boards in the first half but he would up his game in the second half as he poured in 22 points and tallied seven boards. Scottie Stone would finish with 17 points, all of which would come in the second half. Andy Foley added 12 points. Jon Averkamp and Mark Hall would have 10. Kurt Hall came off the bench for 11 points and nine boards. Davis would have five offensive boards, while Kurt Hall also had five on the game.

St. Cloud State was 40-of-75 for 53.3 percent. They shot 11-of-20 from beyond the arc for 55.0 percent. 10 of the Huskies three-pointers came in the second half.

St. Cloud State would jump out of the gate strong and would take the 6-1 lead on an Averkamp jumper. But the Golden Eagles quickly got into the fray as they would be able to take the 7-6 lead on a Nate Lorenz (So., F/C, Breckenridge, Minn.) bucket. UMC would be able to extend their advantage to 11-6 after a Knickerbocker lay-up. 

St. Cloud State would come right back though and would go up 13-11 after a 7-0 run culminating with a Kurt Hall old-fashioned three-point play. The Golden Eagles would continue the see-saw battle as Gamble hit a three to put UMC back up 16-15 with 10:54 left in the first half. 

The back-and-forth contest would continue for the next seven minutes with the biggest lead being six points for the Huskies after Davis hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to make it 36-31 at the 2:12 mark. 

UMC would bounce right back as Cleary hit a contested three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 36-33 with 1:45 left in the frame. After a big defensive stop, Critchley would hit a pull-up jumper to get the Golden Eagles back within one (36-35) with just over a minute left in the half. That would be the score going into the break.

Minnesota Crookston would look to the play of Knickerbocker in the first half. He would tally nine points on 3-of-3 from the field. Cleary chipped in eight points, while Critchley added six.

The Golden Eagles would shoot 12-of-21 for 57.1 percent from the field. UMC would go 2-of-4 from beyond the arc for 50 percent and 9-of-11 for 81.8 percent from the charity stripe.

St. Cloud State looked to 10 first-half points from Averkamp on 5-of-8 from the field. Kurt Hall added nine points off of the bench, while Foley chipped in seven. The Golden Eagles limited SCSU's big-two of Davis and Stone to just five first-half points. 

The Huskies were 16-of-34 for 47.1 percent from the field. They struggled from beyond the arc going 1-of-6 for 16.7 percent. 

Minnesota Crookston would come out of the half on fire as they went on a 10-3 run culminating in a Knickerbocker old-fashioned three-point play to take the 45-39 lead with 16:53 left in the game.

St. Cloud State would systematically climb back into it and would get within two points at 54-52 after a Davis lay-up with 13:31 remaining.

The Golden Eagles would respond to go on a 6-0 run culminating with a pair of Chase Johnson free throws to make it 60-52 with 12:19 remaining. 

St. Cloud State would go on a 16-8 run to knot it up at 68-68 with 8:09 left on a Foley jumper.

In the final eight minutes St. Cloud State would go on a 30-10 run to come away with the 98-78 win, in what was otherwise an incredibly close contest for the first 32 minutes of the night.  The Huskies would hit six of their 11 three-pointers in the final eight minutes of the game as they picked up the 98-78 win.

Minnesota Crookston will look to bounce back as they get a second chance on the weekend with Saturday's game at University of Minnesota Duluth at 6 p.m.