HARRISON CLEARY BREAKS MINNESOTA CROOKSTON MEN’S BASKETBALL SINGLE-GAME SCORING RECORD IN WIN OVER MSU-MOORHEAD

Minnesota Crookston men’s basketball was led by Harrison Cleary’s (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) program-record 47 points in a 108-88 win over the MSU-Moorhead Dragons in UMC’s NSIC home-opener at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston
The Golden Eagles started the game with a strong defensive effort and a pair of made jump shots by Gable Smith (R-Sr., Lodi, WI) giving UMC an early 4-0 lead. After MSU-Moorhead tied the game at four, Chase Knickerbocker (Sr., Annandale) buried a three-pointer regaining the lead for Minnesota Crookston. Trailing 11-9 with 14:16 to play in the first half the Golden Eagles went on an 11-0 run capped off by a Malcolm Cohen (R-Jr., Detroit, MI) three-pointer giving Minnesota Crookston a 20-11 lead. The Dragons answered with an 8-0 run to pull within 20-19 before Gable Smith split a pair of free throws and Malcolm Cohen made a jumper to regain a 23-19 advantage for the Golden Eagles with 6:18 left to play in the first half. Darin Viken (Sr., Fosston) answered an MSU-Moorhead three-pointer with one of his own to keep the lead at four. Minnesota Crookston finished the half well closing the final two minutes with a 12-5 run including a three-pointer at the buzzer made by Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) to give UMC a 43-31 halftime lead. “They turned the ball over a ton,” said UMC men’s basketball coach Dan Weisse of MSU-Moorhead’s seventeen first-half turnovers. “We needed every ounce of the offense. I wish our defense would’ve been a little better, no question about it, but Moorhead is a very good offensive team, but I think their turnovers hurt them in the first half.”
Harrison Cleary scored the first seven points for UMC in the second half before a Brian Sitzmann jump shot from the top of the key pushed the Minnesota Crookston lead to 52-41. Sitzmann was fouled in transition on a lay-up attempt and made a pair of free throws to push the Golden Eagles lead to 54-41. MSU-Moorhead countered with a 6-0 run cutting the Dragons’ deficit to 54-47 with 16:38 to play. A top of the key three-pointer by Johnny Beeninga (Jr., Maple Grove) continued the visitors run and cut the UMC lead down to 54-50 before a Harrison Cleary three-pointer put Minnesota Crookston ahead 57-50 with 15:27 to play. Off a steal, Gable Smith threw down a dunk with both hands giving UMC a 59-50 lead but MSU-Moorhead answered with another three-pointer cutting their deficit down to six. Brian Sitzmann responded with five straight points before a Gavin Baumgartner (Fr., Plymouth) three-pointer pulled MSU-Moorhead within 64-56 with 13:46 to play. Both teams traded three-pointers following another 6-0 run by the Dragons cutting UMC’s lead to 67-62 before Malcolm Cohen made a lay-up pushing the Golden Eagles’ lead to 69-62. With the lead trimmed back down to 69-64, Cleary drove inside and spun under the arms of his defender laying it in for his twenty-fifth point to give Minnesota Crookston a 71-65 lead. An MSU-Moorhead three-point play was answered when Malcolm Cohen drove to the rim and made a lay-up through contact to regain a 74-67 lead with 10:16 to remaining after the Cohen made free throw. Leading  76-69 with 8:32 to play Gable Smith hauled in an offensive rebound and kicked a pass out to Malcolm Cohen who connected on a three-pointer giving the Golden Eagles a 79-69 lead with 8:32 to play. Following a 4-0 run, Harrison Cleary scored a three-pointer after receiving a kick-out pass from Chase Johnson pushing Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 84-75. After another UMC offensive rebound, Johnson again found Cleary on the perimeter again for a three-pointer giving Cleary 33 points and pushing the Golden Eagles lead to 87-75. Cleary scored UMC’s next four points as well giving him 37 in the game and keeping the Golden Eagles in front by double figures at 91-80 with 5:30 to play. Following an MSU-Moorhead basket, Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) drove the baseline and finished a reverse lay-up off the backboard giving the Golden Eagles a 93-82 lead with 4:37 to play. Another Harrison Cleary drive into the paint was rewarded with an uncontested finish at the rim giving Minnesota Crookston a 95-82 lead with 3:46 remaining. UMC’s Brian Sitzmann spurred four-straight MSU-Moorhead points with a pair of free throws giving the Golden Eagles a 97-86 lead. Following a Gable Smith block, MSU-Moorhead head coach Chad Walthall was called for consecutive technical fouls and ejected from the game awarding UMC four-consecutive free throws and possession of the ball. Cleary made all four free throws pushing the Golden Eagles lead to 100-86. Cleary made a jumper on UMC’s next possession giving him 45 points on the night and a 103-86 lead. Cleary made two more free throws for the Golden Eagles with UMC in the bonus for a new career-high and program record 47 points on the night helping Minnesota Crookston close out the 108-88 win. “Tonight’s one of those whacky deals,” summarized Weisse. “We talked about defense the entire week and gave up 88 points but were able to score 108. The thing about our team is that we can win games in a variety of ways. Some games it might be in the 80s or 90s, some games might be in the 50s or 60s. We’ve got to find a way to win both types of games. Each game does have a different personality and tomorrow I’m assuming it’s going to take a very different type of game (against Northern State).”
Weisse was especially pleased with the resiliency shown by Harrison Cleary in his record-setting performance. “What a special night for Harrison,” said Weisse. “I’m so proud of him because I know he had kind of a tough game last week. It’s going to come for him and the thing I was so proud of him for was he got the tough ones. It didn’t come easy and I’m so down proud of him because I know he wanted last week back, but he certainly took control tonight.”
Minnesota Crookston improves to 7-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to their home floor on Saturday when UMC hosts Northern State at 5:30 p.m. on KROX. MSU-Moorhead falls to 6-4 overall and 0-2 in the NSIC.