St. Cloud, Minn.—Minnesota Crookston opened up the New Year and decade in St. Cloud, Minn., looking to get their eighth win of the season over the Huskies of St. Cloud State.
SCSU used a giant second half to beat the Golden Eagles 72-57 inside Halenbeck Hall on Friday night.
The Golden Eagles fall to 7-6 (3-4 NSIC), while the Huskies improve to 8-5 (5-2 NSIC).
Minnesota Crookston got off to a great start, with nine points on three straight makes from behind the arc, with two from
Harrison Cleary (Sr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) and one from
Malcolm Cohen (R-Sr., G/F, Detroit, Mich.).
The Huskies would chip away in the quick Golden Eagles 9-2 lead, to make it a 9-7 lead, but the Golden Eagles would score five straight, highlighted by an old-fashioned three-point play from
Javier Nicolau (Sr., C, Castellon, Spain).
The Golden Eagles would gain their largest lead of the game at 12, after back-to-back layups from Nicolau and
Tyrese Shines (Fr., G, La Grange, Ill.).
The Huskies would close out the half on an 11-2 run to cut the Minnesota Crookston lead to just one at 30-29, heading into the halftime break.
In the second half, the Huskies went on a 9-3 run and would not look back in the game.
The Huskies would have a 12 point lead, before Cleary would hit one of his three 3-point makes on the night, to cut the lead to nine.
The Golden Eagles would get as close as eight, but the Huskies would go on a run to close out the Golden Eagles and earn the hard-fought 15-point win.
The Golden Eagles were led by Cleary and Cohen, who had 20 and 15, respectively. Cleary also dished out five assists. Nicolau finished the night with nine points and 11 rebounds, just one point away from his second double-double on the season.
As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 21-60 from the field, good for just 35 percent. From the 3-point line, Minnesota Crookston shot 8-32, good for 25 percent.
Minnesota Crookston will look to rebound tomorrow night against the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth, from Romano Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 5:30 P.M.
