UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL FIRST HALF SLUMP COSTLY IN LOSS TO KEARNEY

The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagles Men’s Basketball team was outscored 21-2 in the final eight minutes of the first half and that proved to be the difference as the University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers won 75-57 at Romano Gymnasium on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth.

FIRST HALF-
The start of the first half was back-and-forth early.  Kearney took a 2-0 lead before UMC’s Leonard Dixon made a jump shot and on the next possession, he made a three-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 5-2 lead.  Kearney responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Austin Luger for an 8-5 lead.  UMC answered as Zen Goodridge scored the next six points, scoring four of the points of some beautiful Golden Eagle passing for an 11-8 lead with 14:18 remaining.  Kearney answered with a three-pointer before UMC’s Naz Powell (Soph. England) scored in the paint.  The teams were tied at 13, 15, and 17.  The tie at 17 was with 8:32 remaining and the rest of the half Kearney dominated as they ended the half on a 21-2 run behind five three-pointers and the Lopers took a 38-19 lead into halftime.  “I thought we played well for the first 10 minutes or so of the half, but then we struggled a bit,” said Coach Dan Weisse. “I knew their run was bad, but I didn’t know it was 21-2.  Kearney did some nice things, but we needed to be better on the offensive end.”
Kearney made 44 percent (8-20) three-pointers in the half while UMC only made 1 of 12 three-point attempts.

SECOND HALF –
UMC had a solid start to the second half when Leonard Dixon made back-to-back three-pointers to get within a 38-25 deficit. “That was nice to come out strong like that,” said Coach Weisse. “Leo came out and started hitting some shots to get us back into it.” Kearney answered five points before Dixon made another three-pointer to get within a 43-28 deficit.  Kearney would build the lead to 48-30 before Brian Sitzmann (Sr. Savage) had a steal and a layup followed by a big dunk from Dixon to get within a 48-35 deficit. Kearney scored a basket before Sitzmann scored a three-point play followed by a baseline jumper from Uzo Dibiamaka (Soph. Adelaide, Australia) to get within a 50-37 deficit with 11:50 left in the game.  UMC trailed 58-42 when they made another run with a free throw from Zach Westphal (Sr. West Fargo, ND) and back-to-back three-pointers from Ethan Channel (Jr. Beaverton, OR) to get within single digits (58-49) for the first time since the first half with seven minutes remaining. “I like that our guys battled back,” said Coach Weisse. “We definitely learned some things in this game, but I liked that our guys really battled the entire second half. That is as close as UMC would get and Kearney held on for a 75-57 victory. “That run at the end of the first half was the difference and really cost us,” said Coach Weisse. “We struggled on the offensive end with only 19 points and defensively we have to do a little better.  But we saw some good things today from the guys so we will get back at it and get ready for two tough teams at home next week.”

UMC drops to 1-1 on the year and will host Northern Michigan on Thursday at 6:00 p.m., a game you can hear on KROX Radio.  Nebraska-Kearney improves to 1-1 on the season.