The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Men’s Basketball team allowed UMary offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 17 times in a 76-67 loss to the Marauders in an NSIC game played at the McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, North Dakota. “It’s the turnovers and the offensive rebounds, that’s going to be the story of the game,” said UMC head coach Dan Weisse. “That should be the first two sentences of your story.”
The game couldn’t have started off much worse for Minnesota Crookston with UMary scoring the games first six points before Chase Knickerbocker (Sr., Annandale) made a three-pointer with 17:08 in the first half getting the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard. The Marauders used another 4-0 burst to claim a 12-4 edge before Chase Johnson (R-Soph., La Crosse, WI) scored inside the lane pulling Minnesota Crookston within 12-6. A Ben Juhl (Soph., Clive, IA) three-pointer pulled the Golden Eagles within 14-9 with 14:25 left in the first half. Malcolm Cohen (R-Jr., Detroit, MI) was fouled while shooting a three-pointer and made all three free-throws pulling Minnesota Crookston within 17-14 before a Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) lay-up cut the deficit down to one. UMary went on a 7-0 run to reclaim a 24-16 lead but UMC’s continued to grit it out. A Josh Collins dunk followed by a Brian Sitzmann (R-Fr., Savage) triple sparked a 12-4 run closed out by five-straight points from Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) tying the game at 28-28 with 4:41 to play in the first half. A Marauders’ 4-0 run gave the hosts the lead but Cohen and Sitzmann closed the half with the final six points giving Minnesota Crookston a 34-32 halftime lead. “We were up two at the end of the first half not playing good basketball,” noted Weisse. “We let them get it going in transition and had way too many turnovers.”
Chase Knickerbocker made a three-pointer to open the second-half scoring pushing the Golden Eagles lead to 37-32 to open the second half scoring. UMary responded with two-straight lay-ups before a Chase Johnson slam dunk regained a 39-36 lead for UMC. The Marauders countered with a 5-0 run to take a 41-39 lead before Javier Nicolau (Jr., Castellon, Spain) sank a pair of free-throws tying the game at 41-41. The Marauders made a three-pointer to retake the lead, but a 5-0 Golden Eagles’ run put Minnesota Crookston ahead 45-44, following another UMary three-pointer Nicolau made his first triple of the season followed by a Chase Knickerbocker baseline jump shot giving UMC a 50-47 lead. The Marauders responded with a 5-0 run before another Knickerbocker three gave UMC a 53-52 lead with 11:17 remaining. UMary answered with a hook shot by Matthew Kreklow (Soph., Maple Plain) giving the Marauders a 54-53 lead with 9:56 to play. Minnesota Crookston continued to struggle to bring down rebounds on the defensive end of the floor with UMary converting a couple second-chance points into a 60-55 lead with 7:03 to play. Brian Sitzmann made a desperately needed three-pointer pulling the visitors within 60-58 with 6:48 to play. Out of a UMC timeout, UMary’s Tom Kubank (Sr., Adelaide, Australia) made a three-pointer giving the hosts’ a 63-58 lead. Javier Nicolau made a short baseline jump shot at the opposite end cutting the deficit back down to 63-60 before a pair of Marauder’s free-throws followed by a lay-up gave UMary a 67-60 lead with 5:23 to play. The Marauders extended their lead with an offensive rebound and put-back from Kreklow extending the home side’s lead to 69-60 with 4:48 to play. A Tom Kubank three-pointer extended the Marauder’s largest lead of the night up to 72-60 before another Nicolau lay-up brought the Golden Eagles back within ten. Brian Sitzmann buried a three-pointer with 1:52 remaining bringing Minnesota Crookston within 72-65, but UMary’s Jaylan White (Jr., St. Charles, IA split two free-throws giving the Marauders an eight-point lead. Brian Sitzmann was fouled fighting for an offensive rebound earning him a trip to the line for the one-and-one sinking both shots to pull within 73-67 with 1:13 remaining. With 37.1 remaining, UMary pulled down another offensive rebound and Tom Kubank was fouled, heading to the free-throw line where he made both free throws giving the Marauders a 75-67 lead with. Kubank made another free-throw to put the game away for good. “This team’s just got to find a way to play better on the road. “Seventeen offensive rebounds and seventeen turnovers,” summarized Weisse. That’s seventeen times where we don’t get a shot and seventeen times where they get a second shot at it. How are you supposed to win a basketball game like that? That’s exactly how you lose a road game. Harrison (Cleary) took one shot in the second half. He’s our best player, he has to shoot the ball. We’ve got to find ways to get him more looks.”
Minnesota Crookston falls to 13-9 on the season and 6-7 in the NSIC. UMC returns to the court on Saturday in Minot to take on the Beavers starting at 5:30 p.m. on KROX. UMary improves to 8-11 overall and 5-8 in conference play.
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| UMC | 34 | 33 | 67 |
| U of Mary | 32 | 44 | 76 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Brian Sitzmann | 14 | 3 | |
| Chase Knickerbocker | 14 | 3 | |
| Harrison Cleary | 9 | 4 | 3 assists |
| Javier Nicolau | 8 | 4 | |
| Josh Collins | 6 | 3 | 3 assists |
| Ben Juhl | 6 | 1 | |
| Malcolm Cohen | 6 | 5 | |
| Chase Johnson | 4 | 6 | 3 assists |
