Tahlequah, Okla. – In their season opener, Minnesota Crookston men's basketball shot just 29.5 percent from the field and 17 percent from long range in a 62-47 loss to Central Oklahoma on Friday afternoon.
 
Minnesota Crookston falls to 0-1 on the young season and will face Northeastern State tomorrow afternoon at 4 PM.
 
The start would be less than ideal for the maroon and gold, who would trail by 13 before a Spencer Swenson (Fr., F, Sauk Rapids, Minn.) layup.
 
A pair of Kazadi Mukoma, Jr. (Jr., F, Grand Island, Neb.) buckets would cut the lead to 18-8 but another big Bronchos run would make it 27-8.
 
The Golden Eagles would finish the first half strong and trail by just 10 with the help of two straight threes from Alijah Washington (R-Jr., G, San Jose, Calif.) and trail 30-20 at the half.
 
A pair of freshmen in Swenson and Donez Lindsey (Fr., G, Stockton, Calif.) would help the Golden Eagles cut the Bronchos lead to seven, but that would be as close as the Golden Eagles would get.
 
UCO would extend the lead to 16, but five in a row from Washington would cut the lead back to 11, but UCO would pull away late in the second half for the 15-point win.
 
In his Golden Eagle debut, Washington finished with 15 points, four rebounds and a steal, while Lindsey chipped in with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
Mukoma, Jr., and Swenson combined for 13 points.
 
The Golden Eagles were outrebounded by eight and allowed the Bronchos to shoot 12 more free throws than them and make ten more of those attempts.