Mankato, Minn.—Minnesota Crookston hit the road for the first of four straight road games, starting in the Bresnan Center to take on Minnesota State. The Golden Eagles were also looking to pick up their second-straight win over Minnesota State and their first ever win in Mankato.
The Mavericks used a big second half run to escape with a 93-90 victory from the Taylor Center. With the win, the Mavericks improve to 12-11 (10-7 NSIC), while the Golden Eagles fall to 9-14 (5-12 NSIC).
It would be a good start for both the offensive and defensive side of things for the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles would start out with a 5-0 lead, after an Ibu Jassey Demba (Jr., F, Birmingham, England) jumper and a Harrison Cleary (Sr., G, Oak Creek, Wis.) 3-point make.
Javier Nicolau (Sr., C, Castellon, Spain) would score three of his seven first half points with an old-fashioned three-point play, after a slam and finish through the contact.
The Mavericks would cut the Golden Eagle lead to 19-18, but the Golden Eagles would answer in a big way. The Golden Eagles would go on a 14-4 run midway through the first half, highlighted by a Malcom Cohen (R-Sr., F, Detroit, Mich.) left wing three, put the Golden Eagles up. 38-26, forcing a Maverick timeout.
The end of the second half would see the Mavericks chip into the Golden Eagle lead and make it a 45-44 Minnesota Crookston lead at half.
The Golden Eagles were extremely balanced in the first half, led by Cleary's 13 points and Nicolau's seven points. Jassey Demba, Cohen and Tyrese Shines (Fr., G, La Grange, Ill.) each had six points for the Golden Eagles.
As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 45.9 percent from the field and had 13 points off the bench in the first half.
The Mavericks would score on three straight possessions to take a 51-45 lead, but Cleary would score five straight to cut the Maverick's lead to 51-50 with 16 minutes left in the game.
The Mavericks would gain their largest lead of the game at 10, but Minnesota Crookston would continue to chip away midway through the second half.
The Golden Eagles had both Cohen and Quintin Winterfeldt (Fr., G, Waupun, Wis.) foul out, but they would continue to fight. Minnesota Crookston would hit four 3-point field goals to cut a once 11-point Maverick lead to just three at 85-82, following a Cleary 3-point make, his sixth of the night.
Cleary would hit a three and then a layup to cut the Maverick lead to 89-87 with 14 seconds left.
After a Kevin Krieger miss on a free throw, the Mavericks would grab the rebound, but Corvon Seales would go just 1-2 from the free throw line to give the Golden Eagles some life. Shines would then bury a huge three to make it a 91-90 game, but Ryland Holt would go 2-2 from the free throw line to ice the game for the Mavericks.
The Golden Eagles finished with three in double figures, led by Cleary's 33 and Cohen and Shines had 14 and 12, respectively. Cleary is now just 12 points away from being the only NSIC player ever to score 2,000 points in conference play. The Golden Eagles went 14-34 from the 3-point line, but it wasn't enough.
Minnesota Crookston is back in action tomorrow night as they take on Concordia-St. Paul, from the Gangelhoff Center. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
