The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s Basketball team had no problems with Oak Hills Christian College, as the offense scored a program record 115 points in a 115-53 victory in the home opener at Lysaker Gymnasium on Wednesday night.
The 115 points beat the previous record of 111 set on January 17, 2004 when they scored 111 points against Wayne State College. UMC also made 21 three-pointers in the game and that is a new program record, besting 18 made against Oak Hills Christian College in 2018 and Augustana in 2019.
FIRST HALF –
UMC had a great start to the game, going on a 17-5 run. The run started with two J.D. Roberts (Jr. Parkville, MO) free throws, and Hunter Lorenson (Soph. Lake City) made a three-pointer for a 5-0 lead. After an Oak Hills layup, Landon Dimler (Soph. Mankato) scored five straight. After a Wolfpack three-pointer, UMC’s Roberts made a basket, Lindsay Donez (Fresh. Stockton, CA) buried a three-pointer, and Kazadi Mukoma Jr. (Jr. Grand Island NE) had a big-time dunk for a 17-5 lead just over four minutes into the game. A few minutes later, UMC led 20-9 after a Lindsay three-pointer before Oak Hills started to heat up from downtown with a pair of three-pointers and two free throws to get within a 20-17 deficit. UMC answered with a 10-0 run of their own, with Mukoma scoring seven points and Swenson adding three points for a 30-17 lead almost halfway through the half.
The teams would then exchange buckets for the next few minutes, with each team getting breakaways, second chances and three-pointers, until UMC had a 44-30 lead with 4:54 to go in the half. From there, UMC took complete control of the rest of the half, ending it on a 15-3 run. They got 3-pointers from Quincy Everson (Fres. Goodyear, AZ) and Caden Swenby (Soph. Fertile), and once the half came to an end, the Golden Eagles were able to take a 59-33 lead into the locker room for halftime.
SECOND HALF –
As the second half got underway, UMC pulled no punches out of the gate, as they scored 7 of the first 10 points in the half to go up 66-38. Oak Hills could not come up with much of an answer, so UMC kept piling on the points. The next spurt for the Golden Eagles was a 10-0 run, with 5 of the points coming from Quincy Everson, and after that, the Golden Eagles had officially doubled up the Wolfpack, taking a 76-38 lead. Oak Hills got the next 5 points, before UMC scored the next eight points, with 3’s from Everson and Hunter Lorenson. At 84-45 UMC, the Golden Eagles opened up a 16-6 run, getting them up to triple digits with a 100-51 lead. The run was helped by Lorenson, Spencer Swenson (Fresh. Sauk Rapids), and Brady Westphal (Fr., West Fargo), who scored 12 points on four three-pointers, putting UMC up 109-53. A couple more 3-pointers were hit by the Golden Eagles, and that allowed them to cruise to a 115-53 victory, giving UMC their first win of the season.
UMC improves to 1-2 on the season and will take on MSU-Moorhead in the NSIC opener in Moorhead on Tuesday. Oak Hills drops to 0-4 on the year.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Oak Hills | 33 | 20 | 53 |
| UMC | 59 | 56 | 115 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals/Blocks |
| Kazadi Mukoba Jr. | 19 | 7 | 1 steal/1 block |
| Hunter Lorenson | 14 | 7 | 5 assists/2 steals |
| Donez Lindsay | 13 | 4 | 1 assist/1 steal |
| Ethan Westphal | 12 | 1 | 1 assist/1 steal/1 block |
| Quincy Everson | 11 | 2 | 1 assist |
| Caiden Swenby | 11 | 3 | 4 assists/1 steal |
| Landon Dimler | 9 | 6 | 3 assists/1 steal/1 block |
| J.D. Roberts | 7 | 7 | 2 assists/1 steal/1 block |
| Spencer Swenson | 7 | 6 | 2 assists/1 steal |
| Brayden Carlson | 6 | 1 | |
| GD Deng | 3 | 6 | 3 assists/1 steal |
| Cuinn Berger | 3 | – | |
| Owen Chervestad | 3 | 4 assists |
