The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s Basketball team has had a slow start in all their games this year and that happend again today as they started slow and it came back to bite them as Missouri Southern University won 87-63 in a game played at Puerto Rico.
Missouri Southern jumped out to 20-10 lead five minutes into the game and took a 41-19 lead with 4:43 left in the first half. UMC played a lot better in the final five minutes of the half with a 12-7 run, but Missouri Southern led 48-31 at halftime. UMC’s first-half defense continues to struggle as Missouri Southern made 18 of 33 shots (54.5%) while UMC only made 12 of 34 shots (35%). Harrison Cleary (Jr. Oak Creek, Wis) scored 13 of the Golden Eagle 31 points in the half.
Six minutes into the second half, Missouri Southern led 54-40 and they increased their lead to 19 points (63-44) halfway through the half. UMC battled and tried to chip away at the deficit and was 12 points with five minutes left in the game. Missouri Southern dominated the final minutes of the game and won 87-63. Missouri Southern did something in the second half that most teams haven’t been able to do to UMC’s Cleary, he was held scoreless in 16 minutes of play. Missouri Southern shot 53 percent in the game (34-64).
UMC drops to 5-2 on the year and will wrap up the Puerto Rico trip with a game on Friday. Southern Missouri improves to 5-1 on the year.
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| UMC | 31 | 32 | 63 |
| Missouri Southern | 48 | 39 | 87 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Harrison Cleary | 13 | 5 assists | |
| Josh Collins | 10 | ||
| Darin Viken | 9 | ||
| Chase Johnson | 6 | 5 | 2 blocks |
| Javier Nicolau | 6 | ||
| Brian Sitzmann | 6 | 6 assists | |
| Chase Knickerbocker | 5 | 10 | |
| Malcolm Cohen | 4 | ||
| Damion Bariffe-Smith | 2 | 5 | |
| Aaron Hollcraft | 2 |
