Men's Basketball | 2/19/2026 3:11:00 PM

#TIDBITS

Golden Eagle men's basketball will close out the 2025-26 season on Saturday for the rematch with Bemidji State, this time in Bemidji. The Beavers won the first game earlier this season by 1o, when the Beavers scored 56 second half points in early December. Minnesota Crookston can finish the season with a 3-3 record with a win over the Beavers on Saturday in the month of February.

·   NPOTW. Spencer Swenson's two games against Minot State and UMary was the best two game stretch of his young career, where he averaged 28 points and 10 rebounds per game, including a career-high 31 in the win over UMary. It turned out to be a special weekend for Swenson, who earned conference player of the week and earned a bigger honor on Tuesday when he was named the National player of the week. Swenson is the first ever Golden Eagle in program history to earn that honor and should be named to an all-conference team later this season.

• STAR WITH SIX. Swenson hasn't had just those two games where he has taken off, it has been pretty much all conference season where Swenson has been unbelievable. Swenson has 16 conference games this season with more than 10 points, including seven straight such games. Swenson is also the first Golden Eagle since Harrison Cleary with six straight games of more than 20 points, when Cleary did it nine times to end his college career in 2020. Swenson currently sits at six straight games with over 20 points and has a chance to make it seven against the Beavers on Saturday.

·  HOP ON BOYS, WE'RE GETTING A DUB. I have no idea whether or not junior J.D. Roberts said that exact thing at the under-five media timeout on Thursday night against Minot State, but it sure felt like he did. The junior from Missouri was scoreless in his first 19 minutes, but put the Golden Eagles on a personal 7-0 run in the final two minutes of the game to help the Golden Eagles defeat Minot State by three. It was a thrilling game and Roberts was right in the thick of it for the Golden Eagles.

·   15 POINTS BETTER.  The big difference in that win over Minot State was the three-point line. Minnesota Crookston used the three-point line to score 15 more points than the Beavers, making seven threes, compared to just two for Minot State, both of which came in the second half. That's a recipe for success in any game, regardless of the opponent.

·    STADY AS CAN BE. Owen Chervestad is a prototypical, old school point guard and that has turned out to be a great thing for the Golden Eagles. Sure, the young local star is going to have his freshman moments, but more often than not, he is going to do more good. The former Red Lake County Rebel has started six straight games for the maroon and gold, while averaging 5.3 points per game, more than four rebounds per game and has dished out 10 assists in those games. Chervestad had four straight games with exactly five rebounds earlier this year.

·   DIFFERENT STORY THIS TIME. When UMary beat Minnesota Crookston earlier this season in Bismarck, it was a product of poor shooting from the Golden Eagles. That wasn't the case last Saturday when the Golden Eagles flipped the script and beat the Marauders. The Golden Eagles shot 45 percent from the floor, up 20 percent from the last time those two teams met and although the Golden Eagles made just five threes in the win, it was two more than the last time.

• PROTECT THE PUMPKIN. In Bryan Beamish' tenure as Golden Eagles head coach, his squads have done a nice job of protecting the basketball. The turnovers per game have gone down every single season since Beamish took over in 2022-23. This season, the Golden Eagles are sitting at just 11.1 turnovers per game this season. In their loss to Bemidji State earlier this year, the Golden Eagles turned it over just three times, which was the lowest by a Golden Eagle team in program history.

• FINAL TIME THIS SEASON. It's always tough when the season comes to an end and when the buzzer does sound on Saturday, it will close out the season for both the Golden Eagles and Beavers. For a season that takes place over four months, it seems to go extremely fast.


Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Head Coach: Bryan Beamish
Record at UMC: 19-92 Season at UMC: 12th Season (Fourth as Head Coach)

Bemidji State Beavers
Head Coach: Mike Boschee
Record at BSU: 138-162  Season at BSU: 14th Season

Minnesota Crookston @ Bemidji State
Date: Saturday, Feb. 21
Time: 3:30 PM
Place: Bemidji, Minn. / BSU Gymnasium
Watch: https://nsicnetwork.com/bsubeavers/
Stats: https://bsubeavers.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Series Record: BSU leads the all-time series, 40-12
Last Meeting: 87-77 win for the Beavers earlier this season in Crookston


#HEADLINES
1. Final Game of 2025-26

2. Spencer Swenson coming off National Player of the Week

3. Chance for momentum heading into next season

4. Chance to avenge earlier season loss to BSU

5. Can the Golden Eagles get stops?

Weekly Snapshot

Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles
Projected Starters
Fr. G 4 Brady Westphal (6-2, West Fargo, N.D.) 5.4 PPG, 1.1 RPG
Jr. G/F 21 J.D. Roberts (6-6, Parkville, Mo.) 4.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG
R-Jr. G 15 Alijah Washington (6-4, San Bernardino, Calif.) 11.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG
Fr. F 1 Spencer Swenson (6-8, Sauk Rapids, Minn.) 13.3 PPG, 6.4 RPG
Sr. G 3 GD Deng (6-4, Des Moines, Iowa) 1.3 PPG, 1.1 RPG
Fr. G 24 Owen Chervestad (6-0, Oklee, Minn.) 2.2 PPG, 1.8 RPG
Top Bench Players
So. F 23 Brayden Carlson (6-9, Woodbury, Minn.) 3.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG
So. G 11 Caiden Swenby (6-3, Fertile, Minn.) 1.5 PPG, 1.0 RPG
Fr. G 2 Donez Lindsey (6-0, Stockton, Calif.) 14.5 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.1 APG
Jr. F 10 Kazadi Mukoma, Jr. (6-8, Grand Island, Neb.) 11.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG
Fr. G 4 Brady Westphal (6-2, West Fargo, N.D.) 5.4 PPG, 1.1 RPG
Bemidji State Beavers
Projected Starters
R-So. G 5 Nathan Fenske (6-2, Cottonwood, Minn.) 6.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG
Jr. G 11 John Pecarich (6-3, Baxter, Minn.) 20.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG
So. G 10 Eddie Jallow Hedqvist (6-5, Stockholm, Sweden) 8.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Gr. G 22 Henry Shannon III (6-7, Apple Valley, Minn.) 17.7 PPG, 8.9 RPG
Jr. F 30 Austin Josephson (6-9, Meadowlands, Minn.) 9.1 PPG, 6.4 RPG
Top Bench Players
So. G 12 Dominic Fairbanks (5-11, Cass Lake, Minn.) 9.1 PPG, 2.5 RPG
Jr. F 15 Isaac Severts (6-5, Bemidji, Minn.) 4.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG

KNOW THE OPPONENTS

Bemidji State. The Beavers will be hosting U of M Crookston for the final regular season NSIC matchup. Earlier this season on December 6th, Bemidji State took the victory over the Golden Eagles with a final score of 87-77. John Pecarich tallied 34 points for the Beavers in that matchup, shooting an impressive 5-8 from three. Both teams have struggled in conference play this season with the Golden Eagles going 4-17 and Bemidji State with a 5-15 record.

JP. The player to watch for the Beavers in this matchup is John Pecarich. He has the second highest points per game in the NSIC conference, putting up a massive 20.6ppg. Pecarich is the most prolific 3-point shooter in the conference, shooting .395 with 3.4 successful  three pointers per game. He averages the most minutes on the team and is second in average minutes in NSIC, one spot above his teammate Henry Shannon lll.

SIDEKICK. Henry Shannon lll has been the other offensive weapon for Bemidji State this season. He averages 17.7ppg and has the second highest FG% in the whole conference, shooting .565 from the floor on 331 attempts. He has also tallied a team high 222 rebounds on the season, and sits at the top of NSIC with 8.9 rebounds per game. The dynamic duo of Pecarich and Shannon lll combine for 38.3ppg, no one else on the team breaks the 10 PPG mark.

MOMENTUM INTO NEXT SEASON. This should be a good matchup that may produce a tightly contested game. Both teams have already fallen out of playoff contention but there is still plenty to play for. The Beavers and the Golden Eagles are both hoping for a win to cap off their seasons on a positive note.