CROOKSTON, Minn. – The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team extended their win streak to three games with a commanding 98-79 win over Upper Iowa University Sun., Dec. 31 at Lysaker Gymnasium. The Golden Eagles pick up their first sweep of NSIC opponents since Dec. 10 and 11, 1999 when Minnesota Crookston upended Bemidji State University and University of Minnesota Duluth.
Minnesota Crookston moves to 8-6 (5-3 NSIC) with Sunday's win. The Golden Eagles continue their best start to a season in the program's 19 years in NCAA Division II. Minnesota Crookston is just one win shy of tying the school record of nine wins set during the 2000-01 season. The Golden Eagles have their most conference wins since the 2014-15 season when they also had five NSIC victories. Upper Iowa falls to 9-8 (2-6 NSIC) with the loss.
The Golden Eagles had an impressive offensive performance with 98 points on the day. Minnesota Crookston has scored 98 points or more on four occasions during the 2017-18 season. The Golden Eagles were 34-of-57 from the field for 59.6 percent. The Golden Eagles connected on 12-of-22 for 54.5 percent from behind the three-point line. Minnesota Crookston had strong shooting from the beyond the arc on the weekend as they finished 25-of-53 for 47.2 percent on the weekend. The Golden Eagles shot 18-of-27 for 66.7 percent from the foul line.
Harrison Cleary (So., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) paced Minnesota Crookston with 31 points on 11-of-19 from the field. Cleary was an unblemished 7-of-7 from charity stripe. Cleary has missed just two free throws all season as he is 66-of-68 from the charity stripe for 97.1 percent. The sophomore was contained by a strong Upper Iowa defense in the first half as he was limited to eight points on 4-of-9 from the field. Cleary notched 23 points in the second half. Cleary notched five rebounds and five assists.
Alan Hodge, Jr. (Jr., G, Dallas, Texas) added 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hodge was 8-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Darin Viken (Jr., G, Fosston, Minn.) had a big weekend for the Golden Eagles. Viken earned his first start of the season Saturday and finished with 15 points and seven boards on 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Viken averaged 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in two games on the weekend.
Ben Juhl (Fr., G, Clive, Iowa) added 11 points on 3-of-8 from the field. Gable Smith (R-Jr., F, Lodi, Wis.) had a well-rounded night with 11 points, nine boards and eight blocks. The nation's leading shot-blocker led a dominant defensive attack that finished with 11 blocks on the night.
Minnesota Crookston led the rebounding edge 34-28 paced by Smith's nine boards, seven from Hodge and six from Viken. The Golden Eagles had strong ball movement as they had 15 assists to nine turnovers Sunday.
Upper Iowa looked to Carson Parker's 17 points and five assists on 6-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Dennis Austin, III chipped in 15 points and seven boards. Joe Smoldt added 13 points, while Munachiso Okonkwo added 10 points and seven boards.
Jareese Williams came off the bench for nine, while Mitchell Eighme added eight points.
The Peacocks shot 30-of-63 from the field for 47.6 percent. Upper Iowa was 9-of-21 for 42.9 percent. They were 10-of-16 for 62.5 percent from the charity stripe.
The Golden Eagles raced out to a 5-0 advantage guided by three quick points from Smith. Minnesota Crookston would lead 7-2 after a Cleary basket. Upper Iowa was able to cut the deficit to 9-6 with an Austin basket with 17:05 remaining. The Golden Eagles used back-to-back Hodge triples to move the lead to 15-6. Minnesota Crookston moved their lead to 18-8 with a Cleary jumper. The Golden Eagles moved their lead to 11 at 20-9 on a Javier Nicolau (So., F/C, Castellon, Spain) jumper.
Upper Iowa came back with a 7-0 run ignited by three points by Austin to cut the deficit to 20-16. Juhl stopped the run with an opportune trey to extend the lead to 23-16. He followed that triple up with another one for a quick 6-0 run to make it 26-16. The Peacocks used a three from Williams and one from Parker to cut the lead to 26-22 with 8:08 remaining in the first half. Viken stopped the run with a nice play at the hoop to move the lead to 28-22. The Golden Eagles extended their lead to 30-23 on a pair of Juhl free throw shots. Upper Iowa didn't go away as back-to-back treys from Smoldt and Williams pulled the Peacocks within 30-29 with 5:11 left in the opening half.
Viken came up again in a big spot with a crucial three-pointer to make it 33-29. Upper Iowa came right back though with a three from Williams and an Okonkwo dunk to take the lead 34-33. Gabrys Sadaunykas (R-Fr., G, Vilnius, Lithuania) gave the lead back to Minnesota Crookston 35-34 with a pair of free throws. The Golden Eagles moved the lead to 37-34 with a Cleary basket. Upper Iowa came right back with a Smoldt triple to knot it up again at 37-37. However, Sadaunykas responded with a trey of his own to make it 40-37. Parker continued the three-point trade with one of his own to knot it up 40-40 with 1:18 remaining. But the Golden Eagles again responded, this time with Viken connecting to make it 43-40. Okonkwo pulled Upper Iowa within 43-42 with 36 seconds remaining. A Cleary jumper gave the Golden Eagles a 45-42 lead going into the locker room.
The Golden Eagles moved their lead to eight at 57-49 early in the second half following a Cleary triple. Upper Iowa pulled within five following an Eighme free throw. Minnesota Crookston responded with a 5-0 run guided by five points from Cleary to make it 62-52. The Peacocks used a quick 4-0 run to cut the lead to 62-56 on a Parker basket. They would get the lead down to five at 63-58 with an Austin basket with 12:44 remaining.
Minnesota Crookston responded with a 5-0 run guided by a Cleary old-fashioned three-point play to make it 68-58. Upper Iowa got the lead down to 68-61 led by a Parker jumper with 10:11 left in the game. Hodge ignited a 10-2 run with eight points to put the Golden Eagles in the driver's seat 78-63. Smoldt stopped the run with a jumper to cut the deficit to 78-65. Upper Iowa would keep the deficit at 13 at 84-71 with a Kam Rowan basket. Hodge then propelled a 5-0 run to put Minnesota Crookston up 89-71 with 2:48 left in the game. The Golden Eagles would continue to hold on and come away with the 98-79 win over Upper Iowa.
The Golden Eagles picked up their first win in the series since Jan. 15, 2011. Upper Iowa continues to lead the series 13-4. Minnesota Crookston lost twice to Upper Iowa last season, including a last second loss in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament last season in Fayette, Iowa.
Minnesota Crookston will look to build on their three-game win streak as they open the 2018 portion of their schedule Fri., Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. against University of Minnesota Duluth in Duluth, Minn.
