The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagles Men’s Basketball team failed to carry over their strong shooting performance from Wednesday in an 80-67 loss to Winona State in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals played at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Malcolm Cohen (R-Jr., Detroit, MI) opened the scoring with a jump shot from the paint to take a 2-0 lead. Cohen continued his hot start with another basket giving Minnesota Crookston a 4-0 advantage. Winona State responded with a 5-0 run to pull within 5-4 followed by a three-pointer from Mason Domask pushing the Warriors lead to 8-4. Cohen answered with UMC’s first three-pointer of the game cutting the Golden Eagles’ deficit to 8-7. Following two straight baskets from Winona State, Harrison Cleary (Jr., Oak Creek, WI) connected on a triple trimming UMC’s deficit down to 12-10. Another Cleary three-pointer with 12:04 to play pulled Minnesota Crookston within 16-15 before Josh Collins (Sr., Minneapolis) scored at the rim giving UMC a 17-16 lead.
An 8-0 run by Winona State gave Winona State a 29-19 lead with 6:07 to play in the first half before Josh Collins scored at the rim off of an offensive rebound bringing the Golden Eagles within 29-21. A Cohen jump shot cut the WSU lead to eight with a finish through a foul and free-throw by Cleary cutting the deficit down to 31-26. Cleary made a three-pointer with 1:20 left in the half before Ben Juhl (Soph., Clive, IA) made a pair of free-throws bringing Minnesota Crookston within 35-33. Harrison Cleary added a lay-up with seven seconds left in the first half helping UMC closed the half on a 7-0 run while tying the game at 35-35 at halftime. “To come back and tie the game up at 35 at the end of the half was big,” explained UMC head coach Dan Weisse. “We had a few defensive lapses but found a way to tie it at the end of the half. This was a different environment. It’s a pretty neat environment. We’ve got to have guys step up.”
Tommy Gathje made a three-pointer for Winona State to open the second half giving the Warriors a 38-35 lead. A Harrison Cleary lay-up brought UMC within 40-38 followed by a pair of free-throws from Winona State giving the Warriors a 42-38 lead. Malcolm Cohen made a lay-up bringing UMC back within 42-40. Winona State’s Caleb Wagner answered with a three-pointer pushing the Warriors in front 45-40. Trailing 48-44 with 11:48 to play, Harrison Cleary made a lay-up bringing the Golden Eagles within 48-44. Trailing 51-47, Chase Johnson (R-Soph., La Crosse, WI) knocked down a long two-point shot before Cleary scored inside tying the game at 51-51 with 9:00 to play. Trailing by three, Malcolm Cohen tied the game with a deep shot with 6:48 to go.
Harrison Cleary knocked down a deep shot giving Minnesota Crookston a 65-54 lead with 3:37 remaining. Kevion Taylor countered with a three-pointer giving Winona State a 67-65 lead with 2:35 to play. Charlie Koontz scored from the paint pushing Winona State’s lead to 69-65. With 1:05 to play, Kevion Taylor knocked down a top of the key three-pointer from 30-feet away delivering the dagger for Winona State which closed the game on a 16-2 run to win the game 80-67. “Our mindset was there, our effort was there, I’m proud of our guys,” summarized Weisse. “The three-point line, that stat jumps out to me, we shot 28% from three and they shot 41% from three so that’s the difference in the game. We had some pretty good looks at it, you’ve got knock them down. Give them credit, they knocked them down. We’re disappointed, we’re so proud, but at the same time disappointed. Hopefully, the bar has been set. Now that we’ve had a feel for how this feels, the goal should be to get back here again. It’s too bad we couldn’t reward (the UMC fans) that came down with a win.”
Minnesota Crookston concludes its season with a 17-16 record setting a Division II program record for wins in a season. Winona State improves to 14-16 overall and will play Northern State in the NSIC Tournament semifinals at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
| 1 | 2 | Final | |
| UMC | 35 | 32 | 67 |
| Winona State | 35 | 45 | 80 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Harrison Cleary | 36 | 5 | 3 assists |
| Malcolm Cohen | 19 | 5 | 2 steals |
| Josh Collins | 5 | 9 | |
| Ben Juhl | 5 | ||
| Chase Johnson | 2 |
