Box Score Crookston, Minn.—The University of Minnesota Crookston men's basketball team was in Winona, Minn., for the first round of the NSIC playoffs to do battle with three seed Winona State.
 
The Warriors used outstanding defense in the first half to cruise to the first round victory, 88-57.
 
Minnesota Crookston's season will end at 11-18 on the season.
 
Andrea Lo Biondo got the Warriors off to a great start, burying three 3's in the first four minutes to put the Warriors up, 11-0, forcing a Golden Eagle timeout.
 
The Golden Eagles would score the next five, on a layup from Chase Johnson (R-Jr., C, La Crosse, Wis.) and a three from Harrison Cleary (Sr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.), to cut the Warriors lead to just six, at 11-5.
 
WSU went on a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 18 at 23-5, before another Cleary three cut the lead back to 15.
 
Much like in their first meeting from McCown Gymnasium in mid-January, the Warriors couldn't miss and the Golden Eagles had trouble putting the ball in the hole.
 
Brian Sitzmann (R-So., G/F, Savage, Minn.) ended the half for the Golden Eagles with the old-fashioned three-point play to head into the half down 44-21.
 
Minnesota Crookston was led by Cleary and Johnson, who each had six, while Nicolau and Sitzmann had five and four apiece, for the Golden Eagles. As a team, the Golden Eagles shot just 25 percent from the field.
 
Malcolm Cohen (R-Sr., F, Detroit, Mich.) would get the Golden Eagles off to a good start in the second half with a three from the top of the key.
 
Minnesota Crookston would continue to try and get back in the game, but the Warriors just proved to be too much for the Golden Eagles to handle, using 16 3's in the game to pull away from the Golden Eagles in the second half.
 
The Golden Eagles were led by Cleary's 14, while Johnson and Cohen had 12 and 11, respectively. Minnesota Crookston shot just 28.8 percent from the field.
 
Cleary finishes his brilliant Golden Eagle career as the all-time NSIC scoring leader and wraps-up his career with 2,846 career points as a Golden Eagle. Cohen and Javier Nicolau (Sr., C, Castellon, Spain) end their careers as Golden Eagles as well.