UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL COMPLETES THE SWEEP WITH WIN OVER UMD

Minnesota Crookston men’s basketball shot 58% from the field and 11-21 from beyond the three-point line in a 96-88 win over Minnesota Duluth in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

Minnesota Duluth jumped out to an early 8-4 lead with 17:16 left in the first half following a Bulldogs lay-up. Minnesota Crookston responded with a string of strong defensive possessions and equally impressive play at the other end of the floor to take the lead for good before halftime. Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) finished at the rim bringing the Golden Eagles with 8-6 before Chase Knickerbocker (Sr., Annandale) connected on a jump shot off a pass from Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) tying the game at 8-8 with 16:31 remaining in the first half. UMC’s run continued when Harrison Cleary made a contested shot at the rim giving UMC its first lead of the night 10-8 with 15:49 left in the opening twenty minutes. Malcolm Cohen (R-Jr., Detroit) buried a three-pointer to further separate UMC 13-8 before making a pair of free throws to conclude Minnesota Crookston’s next possession with the hosts in front 15-8 capping off an 11-0 run with 14:23 left in the first half. Brian Sitzmann (R-Fr., Savage) made another three-pointer for UMC with 12:45 left in the opening frame giving the Golden Eagles a 20-10 lead. Sitzmann connected from deep on UMC’s next possession pushing Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 23-12 with 12:24 remaining. Minnesota Duluth pulled within 28-20 with 8:42 still to play in the first half before a Josh Collins lay-up followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Darin Viken (Sr., Fosston) regained a 31-20 lead from the Golden Eagles. Harrison Cleary added another triple for UMC’s lead to expand to 34-20 with 7:41 left in the first half. Minnesota Duluth rallied to within seven late in the first half, but a fade-away jump shot by Cleary with 0:04 left in the half gave Minnesota Crookston a 46-37 halftime lead. “Anytime you shoot the ball well, you have a little bit more room for error,” said Minnesota Crookston head coach Dan Weisse after his team shot 57% from the field in the game’s first twenty minutes. “Our defense wasn’t as great tonight. Our guys wanted to make a statement. We’re looking like a little bit more mature program and it starts with how you start the game and we came out ready to play tonight at the offensive end, but it always helps to make shots.”
The Golden Eagles lead hovered around ten points throughout the second half until a Chase Knickerbocker jump shot through a foul with 13:11 left to play gave UMC a 61-49 lead after the made free throw sparked an 8-0 run capped off by another Viken triple giving Minnesota Crookston a 66-49 lead with 12:07 remaining. A pair of Harrison Cleary free throws gave UMC a 19-point lead and the Bulldogs never recovered. With 5:00 left, Javier Nicolau (Jr., Castellon, Spain) received a feed from Knickerbocker on a fastbreak and slammed the ball through the rim with two hands for a highlight dunk giving Minnesota Crookston an 83-65 lead. A thunderous one-handed jam from Josh Collins with 67-seconds left provided one final exclamation point for the Golden Eagles as Minnesota Crookston closed out its 96-88 win over Minnesota Duluth. “It’s the mindset,” summarized Weisse after his team’s third-straight win. “When you have the mindset our guys had this weekend you’ll find ways to win. I did tell the guys I wish our defense was better, but the mindset won the game for us. We didn’t cave, we didn’t panic, they made their pushes, our guys did a great job. I’m so proud of our guys. This is probably the best weekend we’ve had since I’ve been here and it’s because of our mindset.”

Minnesota Crookston improves to 10-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court on Saturday when they host Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 p.m. St. Cloud State falls to 7-5 overall and 4-4 in the NSIC.