UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL UPENDS BSU BEHIND RESURGENT DEFENSE

The University of Minnesota Crookston men’s basketball team held Bemidji State Beavers to just 36% shooting from the field in a 72-51 win in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

The Golden Eagles utilized a quick start coming off the holiday break to build an early lead. Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) scored the game’s first five points including a three-pointer with 17:49 to play in the first half giving Minnesota Crookston a 5-0 lead. Gable Smith (R-Sr., Lodi, WI) knocked down a jump shot to close out UMC’s 7-0 run to open the contest before Bemidji State finally scored their first points with a lay-up cutting the visitor’s deficit down to 7-2 with 15:44 to play in the opening half. Cleary countered with a lay-up to regain a seven-point lead. Leading 9-4, Chase Knickerbocker (Sr., Annandale) made a jump shot followed by another Cleary made a field goal and a free-throw from Brian Sitzmann (R-Fr., Savage) capping off a 5-0 run while pushing the host’s lead to 14-4 with 13:06 left in the first half. After Bemidji State scored five-straight points, Minnesota Crookston countered with a 7-0 run ending after a Josh Collins’ lay-in gave the Golden Eagles a 20-9 lead. Following a Beavers’ three-pointer that trimmed the UMC lead down to 27-18, Chase Knickerbocker sparked another six-point run for Minnesota Crookston allowing the Golden Eagles to take a 33-18 lead with 2:05 left in the first half. A quick 5-0 spurt pushed Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 38-21 in the final minute of the first half, but Bemidji State scored the final four points of the second half trimming UMC’s lead down to 38-25 at halftime. “You’re never quite sure how things will go coming off a break,” explained UMC head coach Dan Weisse. “I give our guys credit because they came in and didn’t appear to be too rusty. It was important (to get off to a quick start). Our guys were ready to play and we put it on them a little bit. It helps when shots fall, but we were also getting stops on the other end of the floor.”
The Golden Eagles opened the second half with a lay-up from Harrison Cleary pushing their lead to 40-25 just 33-seconds into the final frame. Cleary buried a fade-away three-pointer from the left wing with 16:06 to play growing UMC’s lead to 43-25. Bemidji State scored their first points of the second half with a lay-up with 15:29 to play trimming their deficit down to 43-27, but Cleary answered with a pull-up jump shot from the paint in transition regaining a 45-27 lead for Minnesota Crookston. Ben Juhl (Soph., Clive, IA) converted from a sharp angle high off the backboard giving the Golden Eagles a 47-29 lead with 14:14 remaining. Malcolm Cohen (Jr., Detroit, MI) found Chase Johnson (R-Soph., La Crosse, WI) at the rim with 12:00 to play allowing Johnson to finish inside giving Minnesota Crookston a 52-37 lead. With a hand in his face, Cleary scored his 26th point with a deep three-pointer giving the hosts a 55-37 lead with 9:42 to play. Cleary added another triple on the Golden Eagles’ next possession pushing the lead to 58-39 with 9:02 left to play. Cleary added a lay-up with 7:56 remaining giving UMC their largest lead of the night 60-39. Minnesota Crookston continued to pull away the rest of the game with a two-handed slam in the final minute from Javier Nicolau (Jr., Castellon, Spain) providing the exclamation point in the Golden Eagles’ 72-51 win. “The defense has been letting us down at times this year, so to start out our mindset was where it needed to be,” summarized Weisse. “The first time we played them, we gave up way too many points, but today we communicated, were flying around and had a great mindset. I’m really proud of how our guys started after the break. Our guys worked the game plan really well and if our mindset is right like this we’ll be able to compete with anybody.”

UMC improves to 8-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court on Friday when they host St. Cloud State at 7:30 p.m. Bemidji State falls to 4-6 overall and 1-5 in the NSIC.