Minot State dominated the University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Men’s Basketball team on both ends of the floor in a 92-61 loss for the Golden Eagles in an NSIC game played at the Minot State Dome.
Minot State got off to a quick start and never let up. An early three-pointer gave the Beavers a 3-0 lead before Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) scored on a lay-up at the other end. Minot State responded with a lay-up on the other end of the floor, but Chase Johson (R-Soph., La Crosse, WI) countered with a mid-range jump shot to pull within 5-4. The Beavers rattled off a quick 9-0 run to take a 14-4 lead with 16:46 to play in the first half. Darin Viken (Sr., Fosston) made a much-needed three-pointer from the corner bringing the Golden Eagles within 14-7 with 15:38 to play in the first half. A Chase Knickerbocker (Sr., Annandale) three-pointer with 9:00 to play in the first half cut UMC’s deficit down to 22-17 before the Beavers used a 6-0 run to reclaim an eleven point lead. A five-point run including a three-point play from Josh Collins pulled Minnesota Crookston back within 28-22, but Minot State closed the first half on a 16-6 run taking a convincing 44-28 lead into halftime after shooting 52% from the field in the first half. “They went into (David Akibo) (Sr., London, England),” said Weisse. “But I thought we’d have a little better go at it at the offensive end. I thought we’d get into a little better flow. Get the ball moving a little bit, which is something we struggled with on Friday, and we couldn’t get that going. That didn’t help and the fact you throw in not getting stops, it was bad all around.”
Things went from bad to worse to open the second half for Minnesota Crookston, and the visitors never recovered. Minot State opened the half by scoring nine-straight points giving the hosts a 53-28 lead. The Beavers continued to pour it on over the game’s final twenty minutes against a seemingly disinterested Minnesota Crookston side that allowed Minot State to shoot 60% from the field in the second half while the Golden Eagles went 0-9 from beyond the arc in the half. Minnesota Crookston proved unable to sustain any semblance of momentum for the second straight game away from Lysaker Gymnasium, and the Golden Eagles fell 92-61 and dropped to 0-7 on the road this season. “It was disappointing,” summarized Weisse. “We came in hoping to get two or at least a split and on top of it I just don’t think we played our best basketball. I think that’s pretty easy to see. What I was looking for from our basketball team coming off a tough loss to Mary was a little bit of toughness about us not to let it happen again, and we didn’t perform. As a coach, I’m searching right now.”
Minnesota Crookston falls to 13-10 overall and 6-8 in the NSIC. The Golden Eagles return to the court Friday when the Golden Eagles travel to Southwest Minnesota State for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Minot State improves to 9-14 overall and 4-10 in conference play.
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| UMC | 28 | 33 | 61 |
| Minot State | 44 | 48 | 92 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Josh Collins | 17 | 4 | 3 assists |
| Chase Johnson | 12 | 4 | |
| Darin Viken | 7 | 3 | |
| Harrison Cleary | 6 | 3 assists | |
| Ben Juhl | 5 | ||
| Malcolm Cohen | 5 | 3 | |
| Brian Sitzmann | 4 | ||
| Chase Knickerbocker | 3 | ||
| Javier Nicolau | 2 | 6 |
