Men's Basketball Opens up Home Schedule with Bemidji State, Waldorf



•  The Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team is coming off a road trip that saw them travel roughly 1,319 miles round trip to Kenosha, Wis. for the first ever Parkside Invitational Presented by HARIBO. The Golden Eagles won a wild opening round game against NSIC foe Concordia-St. Paul on Friday night, 78-76. The Golden Bears missed a shot at the buzzer that would've won the game in their first game with a new coach. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles fell in the final to host Wisconsin-Parkside, 78-56. This weekend, Minnesota Crookston opens NSIC play with Bemidji State, who is 2-0 on the season and then will resume non-conference play with Waldorf University. The Warriors reside in Forest City, Iowa.

•  SECOND HALF SURGE. Minnesota Crookston got off to a slow start on Friday night against Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Eagles fell behind 9-0 after three straight makes from behind the arc for CSP. The Golden Eagles then faced their biggest deficit of the night at 13, before trailing just 32-30 at the halftime break. Although Minnesota Crookston's biggest lead of the night was just six, it came in the second half. The Golden Eagles outscored the Golden Bears 48-44 in the second half, which was enough to win by two at 78-76. Harrison Cleary and Brian Sitzmann finished with 20 and 15 points, respectively, in the second half.
 
•  RIGHT AT HOME. Playing in his home state, Harrison Cleary felt right at home this past weekend. Playing only 23 miles from his hometown of Oak Creek, Wis., Cleary put on a show for a number of his family and friends. On Friday night, Cleary scored a season-high 35 points on 10-21 shooting from the field, while also going 13-13 from the free throw line against Concordia-St. Paul. In Saturday night's loss to Wisconsin-Parkside, Cleary scored 24 points on 9-18 from the field and tied for a season-high with four three point makes. Cleary raised his average almost four points, going from 23.0 points per game to 26.5 points per game. Through four games, the senior is ranked 11th in the entire nation in scoring with his 26.5 average. The native of the Badger State also needs just two points to move into second place all-time on the NSIC scoring list, passing former Southwest Minnesota State great Ryan Bruggeman.

•  SAVAGE FROM SAVAGE. On Friday night against Concordia-St. Paul, Brian Sitzmann was outstanding. The Savage, Minn., native was outstanding against the Golden Bears, scoring 20 points, while not missing a shot from behind the arc, going 5-5. Both of those marks are a career high for the redshirt sophomore. Sitzmann will look to continue his strong play this weekend in both conference and non-conference games.

•  CLEAN THE GLASS.  A big storyline through four games this season has been rebounding. Although it is only mid-November, the Golden Eagles have been outrebounded by an average of 10.7 through their first handful of contests. The Golden Eagles have been outrebounded in every one of their games, including getting outrebounded by 15 against Concordia-St. Paul and by 14 against Wisconsin-Parkside. In the opening two games of the season, Minnesota Crookston was -3 in the rebounding margin in the win over Missouri Western State and -9 in a loss to Northwest Missouri State, the defending National Champions. The past two games obviously skew the numbers a bit, but Minnesota Crookston will need to be better on the glass as we get deeper into conference play.

•  BOOST FROM THE YOUNGSTERS. Freshman Reed Miller and Tyrese Shines have given the Golden Eagles a boost early on this season. Miller went 4-4 on three-point attempts in the Golden Eagles' first win of the season against Missouri Western State and got the Golden Eagles going in the first half of their loss to Wisconsin-Parkside with a three from the top of the key. The Appleton, Wis., native is averaging 4.5 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game. Shines, meanwhile, was outstanding in limited time this past weekend. Shines collected his first bucket as a Golden Eagle with a putback to tie the game up at 30 on Friday night. The La Grange, Ill., native scored four points in each game this past weekend.

•  GOOD STRETCH. The Golden Eagles showed nice stretches to get back into each of the games this past weekend in southern Wisconsin. In fact, both stretches came late in the first half. Against the Golden Bears, Minnesota Crookston ended the half on an 11-2 run, highlighted by a Ben Juhl three, to cut the Golden Bear lead to just two, at 32-30. On Saturday, the Golden Eagles trailed 33-17 with 5:00 left in the first half, but showed their ability to go on a run, cutting the Ranger lead to just seven at 33-26. The Rangers were able to hold off the Golden Eagles and win the game.

•  HOME SWEET HOME. After spending two weekends on the road, the Golden Eagles play their first games of the season inside the friendly confines of Lysaker Gymnasium. A season ago, the Golden Eagles were 13-2 inside "The Hersch", with their only two losses coming at the hands of Northern State and Minot State. The Golden Eagles got some giant wins in Crookston last season, including Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State. Home cooking was friendly for the Golden Eagles and with some unfinished business this season, they are hoping for more of the same in 2019-20.

•  REGIONAL VICTORIES. The Golden Eagles have four non-conference games with teams in the Central Region. So far, the Golden Eagles have two wins over Concordia-St. Paul and Missouri Western State. The game with the Golden Bears was non-conference, but counts for a region win. The only loss was to defending National Champions and No. 1 Northwest Missouri State. The Golden Eagles are off to a good start to the season and will look to get over the .500 mark with two victories this weekend.

"Look Good, Play Good" Update
White Jersey: 2-0
Black Jersey: 0-2  


Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Dan Weisse
Record at UMC: 47-100 Season at UMC: Sixth Season


Bemidji State Beavers
Head Coach:  Mike Boschee
Record at BSU: 88-109 Season at BSU: Eighth Season


Waldorf University Warriors
Head Coach: Nigel Jenkins
Record at Waldorf: 105-131 Seasons: Ninth Season


Bemidji State at Minnesota Crookston
Date: Thurs., Nov. 21
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/crk/
Live Stats: https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Series Record: Since 1999-2000, the Beavers lead the series 32-10
Last Meeting: Minnesota Crookston defeated BSU 72-51 on 12/30/18
Trends: This will be the first NSIC game of the season for both teams.


Waldorf at Minnesota Crookston
Date: Sat., Nov. 23
Time: 3 p.m.
Video:  https://portal.stretchinternet.com/crk/
Live Stats: https://goldeneaglesports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Series Record: 1-1 since 2009-10
Last Meeting: Minnesota Crookston won 83-62 on 11/17/16
Trends: The Golden Eagles and Warriors have split the previous two games the past two times they have played


Weekly Snapshot

Minnesota Crookston
Projected Starters
Sr. PG 0 Harrison Cleary (6-1 180, Oak Creek, Wis.) 26.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.5 APG
RSo. SG 14 Brian Sitzmann (6-4 192, Savage, Minn.) 12.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG
RSr. SF 12 Malcolm Cohen (6-6 210, Detroit, Mich.) 6.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG
Jr. PF 10 Ibu Jassey Demba (6-7 200, Birmingham, England) 0.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Sr. F/C 44 Javier Nicolau (6-10 220, Castellon, Spain) 6.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG
Top Bench Players
So. SG 2 Ben Juhl (6-1 186, Clive, Iowa) 5.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG
R-So. F 21 Chase Johnson (6-8 240, La Crosse, Wis.) 3.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG
Fr. F 20 Reed Miller (6-6 205, Appleton, Wis.) 4.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG
Fr. G 13 Tyrese Shines (6-3, 190, La Grange, Ill.) 3.0 PPG, 1.0 RPG

Bemidji State
Top Returners
Jr. G 1 Jacob Hoffman (6-3 189, Horsens, Denmark) 16.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG
Sr. G 3 Ja Morgan (6-1 180, Las Vegas, Nev.) 13.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 9.5 APG
Jr. F 5 Derek Thompson (6-8 218, Rocori, Minn.) 8.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG
Sr. F 24 Logan Bader (6-7 205, Milltown, Wis.) 5.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG
Jr. G 30 Nick Wagner (6-4 195, Galesville, Wis.) 31.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG
Top Bench Players
So. G 11 Max Bjorklund (6-1 168, Orono, Minn.) 16.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG
So. G 14 Benly Olizia (6-3 185, Orlando, Fla.) 9.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG
So. F 15 Cody Landwehr (6-7 226, St. Cloud, Minn.) 8.0 PPG, 8.5 RPG
Jr. G 25 Griffin Chase (6-3 185, Nevis, Minn.) 6.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Waldorf
Projected Starters
Sr. PG 0 Brady Kuchinka (5-11 190, Lake City, Minn.) 12.3 PPG, 2.6 RPG
Sr. G 1 Demitrius Martin (6-2 180, Hopkins, Minn.) 17.6 PPG, 2.8 RPG
Sr. G 3 Melvin Martin (5-10 150, Minnetonka, Minn.) 7.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG
So. G 14 Quincy Minor Jr. (6-0 160, Milwaukee, Wis.) 12.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG
Fr. F 33 Tristan Ferguson (6-6 185, Algona, Iowa) 6.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG
Top Bench Players
Fr. PG 5 Terrell Flemming (6-0 165, Columbia, S.C.) 3.0 PPG, 2.3 RPG
Sr. C 50 Gabriel Munoz (7-3 215, Madrid, Spain) 11.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG


#Tidbits

BEMIDJI STATE. The Beavers are off to a fantastic start to their season. The Beavers are 2-0 and are averaging a whopping 122 points after scoring 117 in their opening season win over Northland College and 127 in their last game against Martin Luther. BSU is second in the entire nation in scoring offense, right behind No. 2 Nova Southeastern. It's a solid start for a team looking to get back to the Sanford Pentagon for the second-straight season. A season ago, Bemidji State became just the second team in the current NSIC playoff format to knock off a number one seed, when they defeated Minnesota State 66-56 in Mankato, Minn.

SIN CITY MAGIC.  Senior guard Ja Morgan is putting up video game like numbers this season for the Beavers. The Las Vegas, Nev., native is averaging 13.0 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game and 9.5 assists per game through two games. In the opening game for the Beavers, Morgan had zero points, but had 12 assists, which was a season and career-high. That game was the first time Morgan was held scoreless in 28 games played as a Beaver. It will be a tall task for the Golden Eagles to slow down Morgan, who led the NSIC in assists a season ago and is well on his way to leading the league again this season.

SAINT NICK. Junior College transfer Nick Wagner is making his impact early and often for the Beavers. BSU is Wagner's fourth college in three seasons. Wagner started out at division I Northern Illinois, followed by Iowa Lakes Community College and Indian Hills Community College and has now seemed to find his footing at Bemidji State. In his first ever game for the green and black, Wagner dropped 46 points against Northland College and his 31.0 points per game is tied for first in the nation with Jordan Floyd of King (TN).

BALANCE. So far, the Beavers have had balanced scoring. Led by Wagner's 31.0 points per game, the Beavers have four other players averaging double-figures. Max Bjorklund and Jacob Hoffman are each averaging 16.0 points per game, followed by Morgan's 13.0 points per game. Benly Olizia averages 9.5 points per game as well. BSU leads the conference in three-point percentage, shooting the deep ball at an astounding 51 percent in two games.

WALDORF. The Warriors compete in the North Star Athletic Conference and is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Former University of North Dakota standout Nigel Jenkins leads Waldorf into Crookston this weekend with a 1-7 record on the season.

DIFFERENT STAGES. The Warriors are in a different stage of their season than a lot of division II teams. Waldorf has played eight games this season, starting their season on Oct. 24. The Warriors are 1-7 this season, but playing in four more games than the Golden Eagles could give them an advantage this Saturday.

GO-TO. Through eight games, Demetrius Martin has been the go-to player for the Warriors. The senior from Minnetonka, Minn., leads his team with 17.6 points per game and has four games this season with 20 or more points scored, including back-to-back games against Wayland Baptist (Texas) and Hope International (Calif.), where he scored 22 and 24, respectively.  

HE DOESN'T MISS. Seven feet three inch Gabriel Munoz does not miss a shot very often. The very tall native of Madrid, Spain is shooting 67 percent from the field on 41 attempts. The Spaniard has made 13 more shots than he has missed. It is going to be a tall task on Saturday for the Golden Eagles, literally and figuratively.


#5STORYLINES
1. Can Minnesota Crookston continue their winning ways inside Lysaker Gymnasium?

2. First NSIC game of the 2019-20 season

3. Will the balanced scoring continue for the Golden Eagles this weekend?

4. Will the Golden Eagles bounce back after falling to Wisconsin-Parkside?

5. Will Harrison Cleary continue his blistering start to the season.