UMC MEN’S BASKETBALL FALLS TO #2 RANKED MSU-MANKATO

The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s Basketball team found out why the high-scoring Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks are ranked #2 in the nation as the Mavericks cruised to a 101-64 victory in a Northern Sun Conference game played  at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

FIRST HALF-
UMC had a good start to the game when they took a 4-3 lead after two Blaize Sagna (Jr. London, England) free throws. Mankato answered with five straight points to take an 8-6 lead.  A few minutes later, UMC’s Ben Hoverson (Jr. Grand Forks, ND) made a three-pointer to bring his team within a 15-11 deficit with 11:53 left in the half. UMC trailed 20-11 when they answered with a Reid Grant (Jr. Johnston, Iowa) basket and a Sagna basket in the paint to get within a 20-15 deficit. UMC trailed 30-22 with 5:01 remaining, but Mankato finished the half on an 18-6 run to take a 48-28 lead into halftime.

SECOND HALF-
UMC scored the first point of the second half with a Jordan Mitchell free throw before Mankato responded with five straight points. The rest of the game seemed to have a pattern as UMC would score and Mankato would follow with four or five points while taking advantage of Golden Eagle turnovers and built an 82-50 lead with less than seven minutes remaining. Mankato went to the bench in the final five minutes, but that didn’t stop them from scoring as they outscored UMC 19-14 the rest of the way to win the game 101-64.

UMC drops to 5-11 overall and 2-8 in the NSIC and will host the University of Sioux Falls on Friday. Minnesota State Mankato improves to 16-0 and 10-0 in the NSIC.

CLICK HERE to listen to Coach Brian Beamish’s post-game comments.