UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL MAKES STATEMENT IN BLOWOUT OF ST. CLOUD STATE

Minnesota Crookston men’s basketball knocked off the NSIC preseason favorite St. Cloud State Huskies 76-57 in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) set the tone for Minnesota Crookston to start the game with a lay-up giving the Golden Eagles the early 2-0 lead. Following a St. Cloud State finish at the other end, Ben Juhl (Soph., Clive, IA) made a three-pointer followed by a Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) basket giving UMC a 7-2 lead. The Huskies answered with a three, but Minnesota Crookston utilized a 5-0 run capped off by a Malcolm Cohen (R-Jr., Detroit, MI) three-pointer giving the Golden Eagles a 14-7 lead. Following a St. Cloud State lay-up, Harrison Cleary connected on another jump shot pushing UMC’s lead to 16-9 and sparking a 9-0 run forcing the host’s lead to 23-9. St. Cloud State responded with a 7-0 run to pull within 23-15. Harrison Cleary countered the Huskies’ run with a three-pointer giving the Golden Eagles a 26-15 lead. Josh Collins elevated and threw down a one-handed slam dunk pushing UMC ahead 28-18 with 6:59 to play in the first half. Gable Smith (R-Sr., Lodi, WI) provided a two-handed flush on UMC’s next possession to reestablish the Golden Eagles’ ten-point lead. SCSU trimmed Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 35-26 with 2:54 left in the half, but the Golden Eagles closed the half in convincing fashion to take control of the game. Chase Johnson (Soph., La Crosse, WI) finished a lay-up at the rim pushing UMC’s lead to 37-26. Harrison Cleary made a lay-in on Minnesota Crookston’s next possession before Ben Juhl took a kick-out pass from Javier Nicolau (Jr., Castellon, Spain) and buried a three-pointer pushing the Golden Eagles’ lead to 42-26 with 0:40 left in the half. After another strong defensive possession, Malcolm Cohen fired a three-pointer in front of the St. Cloud State bench off an inbound pass, beating the buzzer and securing a 45-26 lead for Minnesota Crookston to close out the half. “It was just about our mindset,” UMC head coach Dan Weisse explained of the Golden Eagles strong first half. “When the ball is falling that’s good, but defensively we were getting stops early and when you’re playing a team like St. Cloud you never feel like you can score enough points. They did a pretty good job, took some things away, but our guys contested every shot and made sure they only got one shot each possession. That was a big shot from Malcolm (Cohen) to take it from 16 to 19 at the half and give us a little bit more momentum.”
Early in the second half, Josh Collins finished another dunk followed by a Harrison Cleary lay-up growing the Golden Eagles lead to 49-28. On UMC’s next possession Cleary made a three-pointer off an assist from Collins pushing Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 52-30. Leading 60-41, Malcolm Cohen scored five straight points giving the Golden Eagles a 65-41 lead. Minnesota Crookston cruised the rest of the half as St. Cloud State finished the night shooting just 36% from the field as UMC secured a 76-57 win. “This was probably the most complete game I’ve seen us play since I’ve been here on both ends of the floor,” summarized Weisse. “This was a very good St. Cloud State team, but now if we really want to make a statement, then we’ve got to go win tomorrow night as well.”

Minnesota Crookston improves to 9-6 overall and 3-4 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 9-4 overall and 4-3 in the NSIC.