ROAD WOES CONTINUE AS UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL FALLS TO ST. CLOUD STATE

The Univeristy of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Men’s basketball team proved unable to earn a road win in conference play this season after falling 90-74 to St. Cloud State in an NSIC game played at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud.

Chase Knickerbocker (Sr., Annandale) opened the scoring with a three-pointer on the Golden Eagles opening possession. SCSU countered with three-straight points before Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) made two free-throws giving Minnesota Crookston a 5-3 lead. After a St. Cloud State lay-up, Javier Nicolau (R-Jr., Castellon, Spain) scored inside followed by another three-pointer from Harrison Cleary giving the Golden Eagles a 10-5 lead. Another Knickerbocker three-pointer preceded by a Harrison Cleary jump shot pushed the visitors’ advantage to 15-7. With 9:24 to play in the first half, Darin Viken (Sr., Fosston) made a three from the top of the key pushing UMC in front 20-13. A 10-1 run later in the half gave St. Cloud State a 23-21 lead, but Harrison Cleary answered with a triple regaining the advantage for Minnesota Crookston. A 6-0 run was countered by another Cleary three-pointer bringing the Golden Eagles within 29-27 with 4:51 to play in the first half. Chase Knickerbocker scored four-straight points to tie the game at 31-31. Brian Sitzmann (R-Fr., Savage) connected on a jump shot giving UMC the lead 36-35 with 43-seconds to play in the first half followed by a reverse lay-up put-back at the buzzer by Gable Smith (R-Sr., Lodi, WI) giving Minnesota Crookston a 38-35 halftime lead. “Our guys were playing really well,” said UMC head coach Dan Weisse. “In the first couple minutes of the first half they went on a little run to take an early lead, but our guys kept battling back. I saw some fight from our guys on the road today and really yesterday. I did like where the mindset was at.”

St. Cloud State regained the lead with four straight points to start the second half. Malcolm Cohen (R-Jr., Detroit, MI) made a three-pointer putting the Golden Eagles back ahead 41-39. The Huskies rattled off nine straight points to take a 48-41 lead before a Gable Smith lay-up brought UMC back within five with 14:52 remaining. Another 5-0 burst from the hosts pushed SCSU’s lead to ten. Minnesota Crookston pulled back within three after five-straight points from Harrison Cleary made it 53-50 with 12:59 to go. Chase Knickerbocker answered three SCSU free-throws before a Brian Sitzmann lay-up through the foul plus the free-throw trimmed UMC’s deficit down to 58-56. A 9-0 run by the Huskies gave St. Cloud State a 67-56 lead with 10:14 to play. UMC countered with four-straight points to pull within 67-60. A 7-0 run with 4:32 to play brought Minnesota Crookston back within 71-69, but SCSU scored five-straight points to take a 76-69 lead. The Golden Eagles proved unable to cut their deficit within a single possession the rest of the game as the Huskies closed out a 90-74 win. “They scored on their last nine possessions,” concluded Weisse. “We were scoring in there. It was a closer game than what it appeared, but you can’t let a team score 90 points and expect to win. I did like the fight that our guys had. We had them kind of where we wanted them towards the end of the game, but we just let them off the hook.”

UMC falls to 16-15 overall and 9-13 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court to open the NSIC Tournament in Sioux Falls against Augustana at 7:30 p.m. on KROX. St. Cloud State wraps up their regular season with a 21-7 record overall including a 16-6 record in the NSIC.