Minnesota Crookston Opens Year Two of Beamish Era in Oklahoma for Pair of Games

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Golden Eagle men's basketball will open up year two of the Bryan Beamish this weekend in the Sooner State. Minnesota Crookston will play a pair of Oklahoma schools on Friday and Saturday in East Central University and Oklahoma Baptist. The Golden Eagles return a number of standouts from last season that will look to guide the Golden Eagles this season. Minnesota Crookston also welcomed in three freshmen and three transfers who will look to make big impacts this year, including Reid Grant, who will don the maroon and gold after spending two seasons just down the road at the University of North Dakota.

·   FOLLOW MY REID. Reid Grant is expected to come in and make an instant impact on both sides of the ball for the Golden Eagles. Grant brings high level energy everytime he is on the floor and has played collegiately at the highest level, right down the road at the University of North Dakota. As a freshman at North Dakota, Grant played in 28 games, being the first sub off the bench in eight of those games. Grant will play alongside Blaize Sagna this season and could make for one of the better backcourt tandems in the NSIC this year. Grant will make his Golden Eagle debut this weekend in the Sooner State.

• DENG, HE COULD MAKE AN IMPACT. Des Moines, Iowa native Aguek Deng joins Grant as another transfer from the state of Iowa that should make a large impact. Deng is extremely long at six feet, nine inches and should make an instant impact defensively and might be the type of player the Golden Eagles were missing last year. Deng comes from Black Hawk College in Illinois where he averaged almost six points and seven rebounds per game for the junior college based in Illinois. Deng should make an immediate impact wearing the maroon and gold this season.

·  REMATCH OF 2021. The Golden Eagles will look to go 1-0 this season for the first time since 2021 when they knocked off East Central University in Duluth. Brian Sitzmann nailed a shot at the buzzer to give the Golden Eagles a thrilling victory. Sitzmann's shot was the last buzzer-beating shot to beat a team by the Golden Eagles. This year, they will also open up with the Tigers, but this time, it will be in Oklahoma. Can the Golden Eagles knock off ECU for the second straight time and start 1-0 in 2023?

·   BLAIZE OF GLORY.  To say that returning your leading scorer helps out a basketball team might be a massive understatement. The Golden Eagles get that benefit this season when they get back junior guard Blaize Sagna. The London, England native was outstanding in 2022-23, leading the Golden Eagles in scoring at 15.9 points and played almost 34 minutes per game as well, both of which were top-15 in the Northern Sun. Sagna missed just two games a season ago and started every game that he played and finished with less than 10 points just three times. Sagna ended the season with four straight double-digit scoring outputs, so he will look to carry that success into this season and it starts this weekend.

·    THE BOOK OF BEN. We have already touched on a pair of transfers in Aguek Deng and Reid Grant, so let's make it a third time and touch on Ben Hoverson. The Grand Forks, N.D., native comes to Minnesota Crookston after a stop at Dakota State University in Madison, S.D. Hoverson will bring a shooter like mentality to the floor, something that will please the Golden Eagles. Last season at Dakota State, Hoverson was a good shooter, shooting over 33 percent from deep and averaged almost seven points per game and buried a season-high seven three-pointers against Viterbo College last season. Hoverson should make an impact at a spot that the Golden Eagles would like to get better at this season.

·   SIX GAMES IN 12 DAYS. Second year head coach Bryan Beamish will know what he has in his team early and often in the month of November. Starting this Friday, the Golden Eagles will have six games in 12 days, with just two of those games coming in the friendly confines of Lysaker Gymnasium. The Golden Eagles will travel some miles as well, heading to Oklahoma this weekend and then will head just South of Milwaukee the following weekend. It will be an early test for the Golden Eagles.

• HEY FOLKS, THIS YOUR FIRST TIME IN OKLAHOMA? Based on our research, it will indeed be the first time in the Division II era that the Golden Eagles have traveled to the great state of Oklahoma for a game. They have been to many places: Washington State, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arkansas, heck they've even gone to Puerto Rico for a Thanksgiving tournament not that long ago. As people say, there is a first time for everything and the Golden Eagles would love nothing more than to get a pair of wins and make Oklahoma their second favorite state.


Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Bryan Beamish
Record at UMC: 2-26 Season at UMC: Eighth Season (Second as Head Coach)


East Central University Tigers
Head Coach: Daniel Wheeler
Record at ECU: 18-11 Season at ECU: 2nd Season


Oklahoma Baptist University Bison
Head Coach: Jason Eaker
Record at OBU: 87-54 Season at OBU: 6th Season


Minnesota Crookston vs East Central University
Date: Friday, Nov. 10
Time: 3 P.M.
Place: Shawnee, Okla. / Noble Complex
Watch: https://team1sports.com/obubison/ ($)
Live Stats: https://obubison.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Series Record: These two teams have never met
Last Meeting: 72-70 win by the Golden Eagles in Duluth in 2021
Officials: N/A


Minnesota Crookston @ Oklahoma Baptist
Date: Saturday, Nov. 11
Time: 8 P.M.
Place: Shawnee, Okla. / Noble Complex
Watch: https://team1sports.com/obubison/ ($)
Live Stats: https://obubison.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summar
Series Record: Minnesota Crookston leads the series 1-0
Last Meeting: These two teams have never met
Officials: N/A


Weekly Snapshot

Minnesota Crookston
Projected Starters
Jr. G 3 Reid Grant (6-3, Johnston, Iowa)
Jr. G 1 Blaize Sagna (6-3, London, England)
R-Jr. F 13 Aguek Deng (6-9, Des Moines, Iowa)
R-Sr. F 2 De'Antray Hughes (6-7 New Orleans, La.)
Jr. F 33 Ben Hoverson (6-6, Grand Forks, N.D.)
Top Bench Players
R-So. F 10 Jordan Mitchell (6-8, Columbus, Ohio)
Jr. F 14 Pedro Rossi (6-8, Bahia Blanca, Argentina)
R-Fr. G 12 Peter Fuchs, Jr. (6-4, Wausau, Wis.)
EAST CENTRAL
Projected Starters
N/A
Top Bench Players
N/A

OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Projected Starters
Gr. G 0 Trevin Wade (5-10, Marietta, Ga.)
Jr. F 1 Nathan Wilson (6-8, Aukland, New Zealand)
So. G 2 Ethan Scott (5-10, Norman, Okla.)
Sr. G 5 Ricky Brown (6-2, Valdosta, Ga.)
Jr. F 20 Daniel Ransom (6-6, Charlotte, N.C.)
Top Bench Players
Fr. G 3 Terry Coner, Jr. (6-0, Birmingham, Ala.)
Fr. F 14 Efe Sekeroglu (6-10, Instanbul, Turkey)
Sr. F 15 Legend Barrett (6-5, Mansfield, Texas)
So. G 22 Joshua Udoumoh (6-4, Tulsa, Okla.)


KNOW THE OPPONENTS

East Central. The Tigers will be a team that will have to learn how to play without some experience. ECU loses three starters from last year's team and also loses two impact players off the bench. ECU went 18-11 last season and had 13 conference wins, but saw their season end in the first round of the GAC Tournament to Arkansas Tech. This Friday should be interesting, between two teams who will have some transfers and new players trying to fit into the puzzle.

TWO YEARS AGO ISN'T THAT LONG. When these two teams step between the lines to tip it up on Friday night, the game is going to look a lot different than it did in Duluth in November of 2021. Neither Minnesota Crookston or East Central have a single player on their roster that played that night. In fact, both head coaches are different as both coaches enter their second year at the helm of their respective programs.

A GIFT TO THE TIGERS. Godsgift Ezedinma is a player that the Tigers will look to rely on this season. Sure, their leading scorer in Keyon Thomas is back this season, but they will need someone else to pick up the slack offensively. Thankfully for ECU, the junior should be able to do that. Ezedinma averaged more than eight points per game a season ago and finished with 10 games in double-digits. Expect No. 5 to touch the rock a ton on the offensive side of the ball for the Tigers.

NEW YEAR, TRANSFERS GALORE. Transfers are becoming more and more prevalent this season and the Tigers will be a little bit of an unknown this season. Second-year head coach Daniel Wheeler will have eight transfers this season from various levels of collegiate basketball, including a Division II transfer in Robel Desta, who comes from Western Colorado and is a Houston, Texas native. The Tigers could be good, but it might take a while for the new players to start to gel.

Oklahoma Baptist. The Bison are coming off of a 13-16 season a year ago and fell in the GAC quarterfinals to No. 2 seed Southern Arkansas. The Bison traveled to Stillwater, Okla., for an exhibition with Oklahoma State. The Cowboys knocked off OBU by 42. OBU will open up with NSIC foe and No. 12 Minnesota Duluth on Friday.

WADE'S WORLD. Trevin Wade will be the straw that stirs the drink this season for OBU.  In the loss to the Cowboys, Wade finished with 12 points, two assists and two rebounds and was the lone Bison in double-figures. This Wade's first season in Shawnee and he has been around the block in college basketball.  Oklahoma Baptist will be the SIXTH stop for Wade on his college basketball journey. Wade was at South Plains College in Texas in 2018-19 and then went to Georgia Highlands College in 2019-20. Since then, he has been at a trio of Division I schools: Wichita State, Eastern Kentucky and just last year at Alcorn State where he averaged 5 points per game. Wade will look to end his career with a solid year for the Bison.

DOES HE EVER MISS? Ricky Brown is a dynamic player for head coach Jason Eaker and his squad. The Valdosta State transfer and Valdosta, Ga., native will be back this season after playing in all 29 games in 2022-23 and starting in a team-high 26. Brown is efficient as well, shooting 51.2 percent from the floor and missed just two free throws a season ago, albeit on just 26 attempts. Brown scored a career-high 26 points against Southeastern Oklahoma a season ago on 10-18 shooting from the field.

FAB FRESHMAN. Terry Coner, Jr., is a guy that might make an instant impact as a freshman this season. Coner, Jr., comes to Oklahoma Baptist from Birmingham, Ala., and averaged almost 18 points per game as a senior last season, scoring over 1,000 points in his career and was named to the all-state team in Class 6A. Coner, Jr., will hope that his prolific prep career transitions into an outstanding collegiate career.