The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagle Men’s Basketball team battled from 17 down in the first half but just could not close the gap completely as the Northern State Wolves held on to win 62-59 at Lysaker Gymnasium on Thursday night.
FIRST HALF –
After UMC was able to get the first couple buckets of the game off of back-to-back putback buckets from freshman Brayden Carlson, Northern State began to assert themselves into the contest, specifically on the defensive end. They were able to force turnovers at a consistent clip, allowing the Wolves to go on a 13-0 run to take a 15-4 lead with 12:06 to go in the half. Though UMC’s offense started to come alive, the Wolves kept adding pressure, and continued to build a double-digit advantage. At 19-9, Northern State took off on an emphatic 13-6 run, with 6 points from Kaleb Mithcell and 6 points from Kwat Abdelkarim, pushing the Wolves up to a 32-15 lead with 4:11 remaining in the half. From there, though, UMC showcased their resilience once again, and battled back for the final 4 minutes of the half. Carlson, in just his second collegiate start, recorded 8 first half points, helping the Golden Eagles end the half on an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 36-25 at the break.
SECOND HALF –
As the second half started, UMC began to up their aggressiveness. After Marcus Burks scored the first basket of the half for the Wolves, UMC took charge on offense, as Brayden Carlson and Reid Grant individually took the Golden Eagles on a 12-0 run to cut the lead to 1, at 38-37. From there, the game turned into a defensive back-and-forth affair. Northern State was able to maintain the lead after back-to-back threes from Burks, but Jordan Mitchell was able to hit two big free throws to cut the lead to 2. After another Wolves 3, UMC went on a 7-0 run to take their first lead since 4-2, at 51-49, with 7:16 remaining. From this point on for the rest of the game, the lead changed 5 times and there were 4 ties. With 3:02 to go, the game was tied at 58, and the offense slowed to a crawl. Burks hit a jumper with 1:43 remaining to put the Wolves up 2, and Tobi Obiora made it 62-58 with a minute left. After one free throw by Grant, GD Deng got a massive steal to give the Golden Eagles the ball with 22.3 seconds left. However, two open looks by Grant would not fall, and the Golden Eagles would fall 62-58.
UMC falls to 5-19 on the year, 4-14 in conference play. Northern State gets their first conference win of the year and snaps their 18-game losing streak, improving to 2-21, 1-16 in the conference.
To hear postgame comments from Golden Eagle head coach Bryan Beamish, click below.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Minnesota Crookston | 25 | 34 | 59 |
| Northern State | 36 | 26 | 62 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals/Blocks |
| Reid Grant | 21 | 4 | 2/0/0 |
| Brayden Carlson | 14 | 7 | 1/0/0 |
| Jordan Mitchell | 10 | 10 | 3/1/1 |
| Andrew Stokes | 9 | 7 | 2/3/0 |
| GD Deng | 3 | 3 | 1/1/0 |
| Micah Garrett | 2 | 2 | 1/0/0 |
