Box Score BEMIDJI, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team had their fourth game of the season come down to the final seconds. The Golden Eagles would fall short after Bemidji State's Jai'Vionne Green hit a pair of foul shots with 7.1 seconds remaining to secure a 77-75 win over the Golden Eagles. UMC battled back after being down 42-25 at the half. They were down by as many as 21 early in the second half, but UMC ended the game on a 45-26 run.

"I was proud of the way we came back, but ultimately you can't spot a team 17 points in the first half," said Head Coach Dan Weisse. "I thought the way we played in the first half was very reminiscent to how we played against Minnesota Duluth, while the second half was very similar to how we played in our win over St. Cloud State. We had opportunities to win the game late, but we lost because of the way we played in the first half."

Minnesota Crookston falls to 6-10 (2-8 NSIC) with the loss. Bemidji State improves to 5-10 (3-7 NSIC) with the win. The two rivals located just 88 miles down U.S. Highway 2 split the season series 1-1.

The Golden Eagles looked to 29 points from Harrison Cleary (Fr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) to lead the way. Cleary was 13-of-24 from the field. Chase Knickerbocker (So., G/F, Annandale, Minn.) had a big second half with 16 points on 6-of-11 from the field. Connor Gamble (R-Fr., G, Stillwater, Minn.) added nine points.

"Chase Knickerbocker had a big second half for us," Weisse said. "He had two fouls in the first half, but he came out in the second half with the right mind-set and was big for us."

Minnesota Crookston was 29-of-62 for 46.8 percent from the field. UMC was 7-of-20 for 35.0 percent from beyond the arc and 10-of-10 from the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles finished with 14 turnovers.

Bemidji State looked to Lucas Wendt with 20 points on 7-of-8 from the field. Ben Best added 18 points on 8-of-16 from the field. Sharif Black would add 17 points on 6-of-11 from the field.

The Beavers were 29-of-58 for 50 percent from the field. UMC went 6-of-12 for 50 percent from beyond the arc. They struggled from the charity stripe as they went just 13-of-19 for 68.4 percent.

Bemidji State would take the early 9-4 advantage on the Golden Eagles on a William Harvey jumper. They would extend their advantage to 20-9 on a Black trey. BSU would continue their early dominance as they built their advantage to 38-17 on a Green jumper. UMC would be able to cut the advantage to 38-20 on a Connor Gamble three-pointer. A Riley Rice three-pointer would continue a 6-0 run for the Golden Eagles to get UMC within 16 points with 45 seconds remaining in the first half.

Bemidji State's Black would thread the needle to Best to extend the lead to 40-23. A Cleary bucket with 2.3 seconds would cut the lead to 40-25. Black would hit a pair of free throws at the end of the first half to extend BSU's lead to 42-25 going into the break.

Minnesota Crookston would look to Cleary, who had 13 points on 6-of-11 from the field. The Golden Eagles would shoot 10-of-26 for 38.5 from the field. UMC was 3-of-9 for 33.3 percent from beyond the arc and a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. UMC would struggle holding on to the ball as they would turn over the ball 12 times in the first half.

The Beavers looked to 13 points off of the bench from Wendt, as he was 4-of-5 from the field. Black chipped in 11 points, while Green had nine points. Bemidji State was 15-of-31 from the field for 48.4 percent. They were 4-of-7 for 57.1 percent from beyond the arc. They struggled from the charity stripe as they were just 8-of-12 for 66.7 percent.

The Beavers would start out the second half with a Ben Best layup to extend their lead to 44-25. A Green fastbreak lay-up would quickly make it 46-25. Cleary gave UMC their first bucket of the second half with 18:30 left in the game to cut the lead to 46-27.

A Logan Bader three-pointer would extend the BSU lead to 51-30 with 16:30 left in the game. Back-to-back Cleary buckets would get UMC on a quick 4-0 run to cut the lead to 51-34. Another steal on the defensive end would help lead to a pair of Cleary free throws which would extend the run to 6-0 to cut the lead to 51-36 with 15:08 left in the game.

On the defensive end, Smith would get a blocked shot to help lead to a Johnson put-back for two on the other end to take the run out to 8-0 to make it 51-38. BSU would end the run as Wendt nailed a trey to make it 54-38.

Kobe Critchley would hit a floater with 12:45 left in the game to cut the Bemidji State lead to 54-40. A turnover for Bemidji State's Harvey would give the Golden Eagles the ball back. Knickerbocker would drive to the basket for the layup to cut the lead to 54-42.

UMC would continue their run in the second half as they got it out to 14-3 after a Cleary jumper cut the lead to 10 (54-44). The lead had been as high as 21 early in the second half in favor of Bemidji State.

BSU would push the lead out to 12 on a pair of Harvey free throws with 10:58 remaining. The Golden Eagles would get the lead down to nine on an old-fashioned three-point play from Chase Knickerbocker. Knickerbocker would make another basket to cut the lead to 56-49. On the same play, a foul would be called on the floor sending Jim Warmack (Jr., F/C, East Grand Forks, Minn.) to the charity stripe for the one-and-one. Warmack would hit both to cut the lead to 56-51 to take the run out to 21-5 for the Golden Eagles.

After a defensive stop, Gamble would come up with a clutch three on the offensive end to cut the Bemidji State advantage to 56-54 with 9:31 left to make it a 24-5 run.

Black would get an important basket for BSU to put the Beavers up 58-54 with 9:15 left in the game. Cleary would drive to the lane to cut the lead back to two points (58-56). Harvey would share with his post-mate Best for BSU to get the lead back out to 60-56 in favor of Bemidji State. Best would hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to make it a five-point advantage for BSU.

Smith would hit a pair from the charity stripe to get it back down to a three-point advantage for BSU with 6:51 remaining. Black would come up with a big transition layup to fend off UMC again to get it back out to five.

Gamble would come up with another big trey to get the lead down to two points (65-63) with under six minutes remaining in the game. After an offensive foul by Green, Cleary would get a bucket on the other end to knot it up 65-65 with 5:15 left.

Bemidji State would take the advantage on a Wendt bucket to make it 67-65. UMC would respond with a Cleary bucket to knot it up 67-67 with under four minutes remaining. BSU would match them on their end as Best picked up a layup to make it 69-67.

Knickerbocker would continue his big second half as he nailed the three-pointer to make it 70-69 with 2:48 remaining. The three would be Knickerbocker's 13^th point of the half.

Green would hit a jumper to put BSU up 71-70. The Golden Eagles would take the lead back on a Xavier Hall basket to make it 72-71 with 1:30 left in the game.

Best would come up with a clutch bucket for Bemidji State to make it 73-72 with 1:20 remaining in the game. UMC would have a chance at the hoop on a Gamble layup but a miss would give it back to the Beavers. Wendt would come up with a basket on the other end to make it 75-72. However, Knickerbocker continued his great second half with another trey to knot it up 75-75 with 33.1 seconds remaining.

Green would draw the foul on Cleary on the other end with 7.1 seconds left. He would hit both to make it 77-75 in favor of the Beavers. Cleary would have a chance at a shot for UMC, but it would fall long as BSU would hang on for the 77-75 win over the Golden Eagles.

Minnesota Crookston will host one of the top teams in the NSIC South as they take on Southwest Minnesota State University Fri., Jan. 13 at 8 p.m.