Duluth, Minn. – Minnesota Crookston men's basketball was looking to go 2-0 on the season as they finished up the American Family Insurance Classic against Nebraska-Kearney.
The Lopers used hot shooting and were able to stave off a second-half Golden Eagle run to defeat Minnesota Crookston, 75-57.
Both teams moved to 1-1 with the result this afternoon.
The two teams would be tied at five through the first two and a half minutes, as
Leonard Dixon (R-Jr., F, Demascus, Oreg.) would bury a midrange and a shot from deep.
Minnesota Crookston would go on a 6-0 run, with all the points coming from
Zen Goodridge (R-Jr., C, Orlando, Fla.) and would take an 11-7 lead, forcing a Loper timeout.
UNK would eventually take a 17-15 lead, but
Ron Kirk, Jr. (Fr., G, Milwaukee, Wis.) scored his first two career Golden Eagle points to tie the game up at 17.
From that point on, it was all UNK, who would finish the half on a 21-2 run to head into the break up by 18 at 38-19.
The Golden Eagles would try and rely on Dixon to get the maroon and gold back into the game. The smooth-shooting redshirt junior would come out of the half and bury two straight makes from deep to cut the lead to just 13, at 38-25.
The Lopers would eventually take their largest lead of the game at 20, but the Golden Eagles would try to climb their way back into the game.
A pair of
Ethan Channel (R-Jr., G, Beaverton, Ore.) threes would get the Golden Eagles within nine with just over seven minutes remaining, but the Lopers would pull away and win the game by 18.
The pair of Oregon natives led the way in the scoring column, as Dixon finished with 19 points on 7-17 shooting from the field and 5-8 from deep, while Channel scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting. Goodridge and
Nathaniel Powell (R-So., C, Nottingham, England) each finished with six rebounds.
After shooting 49 percent from the field in last night's win over East Central, the Golden Eagles shot just 37.7 percent this afternoon, but shot over 50 percent in the second half. For the second straight game, the Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle by out rebounding UNK, 37-34.
What's Next
The Golden Eagles are back in action next Thursday for the long awaited home-opener as they host Northern Michigan for staff/faculty appreciation night in Crookston. Tip-off with the Wildcats is set for 6 P.M.
