Box Score CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Mary Marauders out-scored the University of Minnesota Crookston 46-35 in the second half in order to pick up an 83-67 win over the Golden Eagles at Lysaker Gymnasium. The Golden Eagles held their own early on, down just 37-32, but the second half success of the Marauders would lead them to the win.
"We competed in the first half and that was great to see, but in the second half we allowed them to score on their first 13 possessions," said Head Coach
Dan Weisse. "We just couldn't guard them and as a coach that is tough to swallow because we try to take pride in our defense but they were a step ahead of us and we were catching from behind and they were swiping through and getting to the bucket. Give credit to U-Mary, but it is just one of those deals where we just have to keep getting better."
The Golden Eagles fall to 3-21 (1-19 NSIC) with the loss. U-Mary improved to 16-10 (11-9 NSIC) with the victory. Saturday was Senior Night for the Golden Eagles as they honored the impact that their lone senior
Derrick Redd, Jr. (Sr., G, Menifee, Calif./Sports and Rec Management) has had. Redd has helped to lead a young Golden Eagle squad that returned just two players from last year that saw minutes. The other 11 players had not played an NSIC minute prior to the start of the 2015-16 campaign. Redd has continued to get better in his own right as a player. The senior is just 15 points away from Jon Smith to become third all-time on the UMC scoring charts.
"We just talked about at the end of the game how Derrick has been around this program longer than anyone in our locker room," Weisse said. "He is a fifth year senior and at some point other guys will be fifth year seniors. Redd does a good job at talking about the vision of our program and the progress he has seen. It is disappointing the progress isn't correlating with wins. It isn't all about wins, it is about being able to keep getting better."
"It was definitely a different approach for me coming into my last home weekend," Redd said. "You want to practice a little harder and you want to do things a little differently that you wish you would have been doing your whole career. This weekend I had a good time and it was great to get the support from faculty, from parents and from other coaches. This program is on the up-and-up. We have a lot of young talent. A lot of teams are so much older but when this team gets a little older and gets the experience they will be pretty good."
Redd finished with a strong weekend, averaging 14.5 points per game on the weekend. He had 12 points and five rebounds, along with three assists on the night.
Gable Smith (R-Fr., F, Lodi, Wis./Management) put together one of his strongest games of his young career with 14 points and five boards on 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Ben Grygiel (Jr., F, Rockford, Ill./Management) added 11 points, while
C.J. Polk (So., G, Milwaukee, Wis./Management) played well off the bench with 10 points after missing Friday due to a violation of team rules.
Jim Warmack (So., F/C, East Grand Forks, Minn./Management) also finished with a strong weekend, averaging 8.5 points on the weekend. Warmack had nine points Saturday.
The Golden Eagles were 23-of-63 for 36.5 percent from the field, 8-of-25 for 32 percent from beyond the arc and 13-of-15 for 86.7 percent from the charity stripe.
The Marauders used their fast-pace style to their advantage. They were led off the bench by Rickey Suggs, who had 17 points and seven boards. Bryan Jefferson chipped in 11 points and five boards, while Devan Douglas added 11, as well.
U-Mary played strong offensively, going 30-of-54 for 55.6 percent. They were 6-of-8 from beyond the arc for 75 percent and 17-of-19 for 89.5 percent from the free throw line.
The Golden Eagles got out to an 8-4 advantage early in the game on a Warmack jumper with 16:37 remaining in the half. The Marauders would be able to get the lead back on a Marquealis Edwards three with 15:03 remaining in the first period. U-Mary would be able to get their lead out to five at 18-13 on a Damonta Henry fast-break lay-up with 11:57 remaining in the half. The Marauders would get their lead out to five, but UMC would fight back. The Golden Eagles would use back-to-back threes from Grygiel and Redd to get it down to a two-point deficit (25-23) with 5:46 remaining in the half.
U-Mary would fight back and go on a 6-0 run to make it 31-23 with 3:52 left in the first. A bucket from Grygiel and a big three from Smith would get the deficit back down to 31-28 with 2:31 left. UMC would stay close, but U-Mary would go into the locker room up 37-32.
The Golden Eagles would hang with the Marauders early in the second as they got it down to a one-point lead on a Redd lay-up with 18:47 left in the game. U-Mary responded with four-straight points but Smith answered with a three to cut the lead back down to 42-40. A jumper from Polk would knot the game up at 42-42 with 16:48 left.
UMC would stay close after the Marauders got up again, as Warmack used an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 47-45 in favor of U-Mary. From there though the Marauders would take over as they went on an 11-0 run culminating in a Douglas jumper to make it 58-48. U-Mary would control the pace and come away with an 83-67 win.
The Golden Eagles were able to pull Redd late, letting him walk off with a nice moment as he left Lysaker Gymnasium for the last time as a collegiate player. The Golden Eagles will play Northern State University next Friday and Minnesota State University Moorhead Saturday as they wrap up the regular-season.
For more information, visit the Golden Eagle Athletics website at
www.goldeneaglesports.com.
Follow the Golden Eagles on Facebook at Golden Eagle Sports and on Twitter at @UMCAthletics.
The University of Minnesota Crookston is a NCAA Division II university located in the Red River Valley of Northwest Minnesota. UMC sponsors 11 intercollegiate athletic teams with membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate conference (NSIC) and the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). The NSIC is a 16-team conference with schools situated in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
-30-