The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle men’s basketball team battled for most of the game, but it was two runs, one in each half, that gave the Minnesota State Moorhead Dragons a 92-81 victory in a Northern Sun Conference game played on Gary Senske Court at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.
FIRST HALF –
The Golden Eagles’ Donez Lindsey (Fresh. Stockton, CA) made a three-pointer a little over a minute into the game to get things going. MSUM answered with five points before Brayden Carlson (Soph. Woodbury) scored in the paint for a 5-5 tie. Moorhead responded with an 8-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 13-5 lead. UMC answered with a 7-2 run with two Kazadi Mukoma Jr. (Jr. Grand Island, Neb) three-pointers and a Spencer Swenson (Fresh. Sauk Rapids) free throw to get within a 15-12 deficit. The teams continued to exchange baskets, and Crookston trailed 29-25 with 7:53 left in the half. Moorhead went on a 6-0 run only to have UMC respond with an 8-0 run behind five points from Mukama Jr., a basket from Hunter Lorenson (Soph. Lake City), and a GD Deng (Sr. Des Moines, IA) free throw to tie the game at 33-33 with 2:53 remaining.
The rest of the half belonged to Moorhead as they ended the half on a 9-1 run to take a 42-34 lead into halftime.
SECOND HALF –
Moorhead expanded their lead in the first three minutes of the second half to 11 points before UMC went on a 7-0 run behind five points from Alijah Washington and a basket from Swenson to get within a 51-47 deficit five minutes into the half. The teams exchanged baskets, and Moorhead built a 71-61 lead with 9:17 remaining in the game.
UMC answered with a 4-1 run to get within a 72-65 deficit. Moorhead answered with a 4-1 run of their own to take a 76-66 lead. The back-and-forth continued as UMC replied with a Mukoma Jr. three-pointer and a Carlson basket in the paint to get within a 76-71 deficit with five minutes remaining. There wasn’t any scoring for the next minute, but Moorhead came up with a huge three-pointer from Sam Hastreiter, his 24th point of the game, for an eight-point lead. Moorhead kept the lead the rest of the way for a 92-81 victory.
Moorhead scored 50 second-half points to UMC’s 47 in a high-scoring half.
UMC drops to 0-8 in the NSIC and 1-11 overall and will host Minnesota Morris on Monday. MSU-Moorhead improves to 8-6 overall and 5-3 in the NSIC.
| 1st | 2nd | Final | |
| Moorhead | 42 | 50 | 92 |
| Crookston | 34 | 47 | 81 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Misc. |
| Spencer Swenson | |||
| Donez Lindsey | |||
| Kuzadi Mukoma Jr | |||
| Alijah Washington | |||
| J.D. Roberts | |||
| Hunter Lorenson | |||
| Quincy Everson | |||
| Brayden Carlson |
