HARRISON CLEARY SCORES 52 POINTS IN UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL WIN OVER WAYNE STATE

Led by Harrison Cleary’s school record 52-points, the University of Minnesota Crookston Men’s basketball team beat Wayne State 92-78 in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.  Cleary broke his own record of 47 points that he set in December of 2018 against Minnesota State Moorhead. 

First Half –
Wayne State opened up a 5-0 lead before Harrison Cleary (Sr., Oak Creek, WI) scored Minnesota Crookston’s first points at the free-throw line with 18:18 to play in the first half. Javier Nicolau (Sr., Castellon, Spain) smashed a dunk through a foul adding the free-throw to trim the Golden Eagles deficit down to 10-7. Harrison Cleary connected on a three-pointer before Tyreses Shines (Fr., La Grange, IL) knocked down a deep shot putting Minnesota Crookston in front 13-12 with 12:44 to play in the first half. Malcolm Cohen (R-Sr., Detroit, MI) sank a shot from the long line tying the game at 17-17 with 11:47 to play in the opening frame. Reed Miller (Fr., Appleton, WI) added to the three-point barrage with 9:36 to play in the first-half before a Harrison Cleary lay-up gave the Golden Eagles a 22-19 lead. Ibu Jassey-Demba (Jr., Birmingham, UK) provided the Golden Eagles sixth three-pointer of the half with 6:16 remaining pushing UMC’s lead to 30-24. Harrison Cleary knocked down a deep shot with 3:04 to play in the first half increasing the home team’s advantage to 35-28. The Wildcats closed the half on a 7-0 run before drew Harrison Cleary drew a foul and made a pair of free-throws giving the Golden Eagles a 37-35 halftime lead. 

Second Half –
Wayne State opened the second half with an 8-0 run before Brian Sitzmann (R-Soph., Savage made a three-pointer bringing Minnesota Crookston within 43-40 with 18:22 to play. Trailing 48-45, Javier Nicolau scored a lay-up followed by a Harrison Cleary three-pointer giving Minnesota Crookston a 50-48 lead. Leading 54-53, Harrison Cleary made back-to-back three-pointers before Reed Miller made a three pushing the Golden Eagles ahead 63-53 with 11:23 to play. A Wayne State three-pointer with 5:42 to go brought the visitors within 71-66 but Harrison Cleary answered with a 6-0 run pushing his total to 46 points while increasing UMC’s lead to 77-66. Cleary added four more free-throws two after he was fouled with Minnesota Crookston in the bonus followed by two more free-throws following a technical foul against Wayne State giving him 50-points and increasing UMC’s lead to 86-70. Cleary added two more free-throws with 1:20 to play finishing with a new UMC record 52 points as Minnesota Crookston closed out a 92-78 win.

Minnesota Crookston improves to 7-4 overall and 3-2 in NSIC play. The Golden Eagles return to the court next Saturday when UMC travels to Bemidji State for a 4 P.M. tip-off on KROX. Wayne State falls to 5-8 overall and 2-3 in conference games.