The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Men’s Basketball team earned its first-ever NSIC postseason victory over the Augustana Vikings 87-72 in an NSIC Tournament game played at the Sioux Falls Arena.
Augustana’s Matt Cartwright (Soph., Sioux Falls, SD) made a three-pointer to open the scoring giving the Vikings a 3-0 lead. Minnesota Crookston’s Malcolm Cohen (Jr., Detroit, MI) answered with a three-pointer tying the game at 3-3. Dylan LeBrun (Flandreau, SD) scored a lay-up pushing Augustana in front 5-3. Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) made a free-throw before a Malcolm Cohen sank a free-throw tying the game at 5-5 with 15:10 to play in the first half. Following a Vikings’ three-pointer, Harrison Cleary sank a triple followed by a Cleary lay-up giving the Golden Eagles a 10-8 lead. Another Cleary three-pointer pushed UMC’s lead to 13-10 with 13:58 to play in the opening half. Ben Juhl (Soph., Clive, IA) connected from deep pushing UMC’s advantage to 16-12 before Cleary made a jump shot pushing the Golden Eagles’ lead to 18-12. Harrison Cleary buried another three-pointer thrusting Minnesota Crookston in front 21-14 before Ben Juhl hit a three giving UMC an eight-point lead. Gable Smith (R-Sr., Lodi, WI) looked the healthiest he’s been in 2019 scoring two-straight baskets before Brian Sitzmann (R-Fr., Savage) buried a three-pointer giving UMC a 33-26 lead with 6:03 to play in the first half. Brian Sitzman made a lay-up followed by a three-pointer from Malcolm Cohen giving the Golden Eagles a 38-28 lead. A Gable Smith lay-up with 2:17 to play in the half pushing UMC in front 42-31. Augustana managed to close the half on a 5-0 run with two baskets from Dylan LeBrun (Fr., Flandreau, SD) bringing the Vikings within 42-36 at halftime. “We had a couple too many turnovers,” said UMC head coach Dan Weisse. “We had a bad shot and two turnovers at the end of the half and that let them get their stuff. In the locker room at halftime, we talked about limiting those turnovers because that’s how they were going to get going.”
Javier Nicolau (R-Jr., Castellon, Spain) made a free throw followed by a three-pointer from Sitzmann opened Minnesota Crookston’s lead up to 46-36 to start the second half. After two Vikings’ free-throws, Brian Sitzmann connected on a deep shot sparking a 14-0 run giving the Golden Eagles’ a 60-38 lead. Ben Juhl made back-to-back three-pointers with 14:25 to play giving Minnesota Crookston a 66-39 lead. Ben Juhl made a jump shot with 8:28 to play as the Golden Eagles’ lead grew to 75-54. Augustana answered with an 8-0 run bringing the hosts within 75-62. Malcolm Cohen answered the run with a three-pointer regaining a 78-62 lead for the Golden Eagles. Harrison Cleary and Brian Sitzmann made a pair of three-pointers giving UMC an 84-67 lead with 4:18 to go. Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) sealed the milestone victory with a lay-up after breaking the press to close out the 87-72 win. “Unbelievable, what a great feeling,” summarized Weisse. “We felt like we maybe underachieved a little bit, but better late than never for a road win. I thought on both ends of the floor we were pretty good. Cartwright had 34 on us last time, Brian Sitzmann and Malcolm Cohen did a heck of a job on him tonight. We rebounded and made their shots about as tough as possible. We got to most of the 50-50 balls today and holy cow did we shoot the ball,” Weisse added after his team shot 53% from the field and 69% from the three-point line. “It was a whole team effort. It was one through fifteen. We were all supporting each other, whether we were playing or not, we were all supporting each other out there. Everyone did their job, I’m so proud of them.”
Minnesota Crookston improves to 17-15 overall and advances to the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls on Sunday. The Golden Eagles will take on Winona State at 2:30 p.m. with the Riverview Health pregame show beginning at 2:00 p.m. on KROX. Augustana ends its season with an 18-11 record.
[yotuwp type=”videos” id=”hocPuAAocjo” ]
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| UMC | 42 | 45 | 87 |
| Augustana | 36 | 36 | 72 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Harrison Cleary | 22 | 3 | 4 assists |
| Malcolm Cohen | 17 | 3 | |
| Ben Juhl | 17 | 3 | |
| Brian Sitzmann | 16 | ||
| Gable Smith | 8 | 3 | |
| Josh Collins | 5 | 6 | 3 assists |
| Chase Knickerbocker | 1 | ||
| Javier Nicolau | 1 | 5 | 2 steals |
| Chase Johnson | 0 | 6 | 3 assists |
