Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball at Minnesota Duluth: SCSU 64, UMD 75
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Poor Shooting Night Sinks #24 Huskies Against Bulldogs, 75-64
Friday, January 9, 2009
Brett Putz was a bright spot for the Huskies with a career high 19 points in the contest. |
Duluth, Minn. – Four Minnesota Duluth players finished in double figures while the Huskies had their worst shooting night of the year, connecting on just 33% of their shots from the field. In the end it added up to a 75-64 loss for the St. Cloud State (10-3, 5-1) men’s basketball team at the hands of Minnesota Duluth (12-5, 6-1) this evening (Jan. 9) on the road at Romano Gymnasium.
A 38-27 Bulldog half-time lead quickly turned into a 45-27 advantage for the home team, just 1:39 into the second half. The Huskies got the score as close as 47-36 when a Brett Putz (Forest City, Iowa) jumper got the visitors within 11 points at the 13:13 mark of the second.
However, SCSU could never get the lead into single digits, and with 6:44 left to go in the game Minnesota Duluth stretched the lead to 20 points for the first time. Putz led the Huskies in scoring with 19 points off the bench, but no other Husky player had over eight points. Of the five players who started the game for SCSU, none was able to produce more than six points.
Conversely, the Bulldogs had four of their five starters finish with 10-plus points, including a game-high 26 from junior forward Brian Sykora. Sykora and fellow UMD big man John Vaudreuil combined for 41 of the team’s points, over 50% of the UMD offense.
SCSU shot only 33.3% for the game, compared to the 53.2% that UMD put up. The Huskies did take more shots that the Bulldogs 63-to-47, but it was not enough to overcome the shooting disparity.
The Bulldogs started fast out of the gate and – after the Huskies Matt Schneck (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) laid one in to tie it at 2-2 at the 18:05 mark – went on a 14-0 run over the next 6:32 to hold a 16-2 lead on the Huskies at the 11:33 mark of the opening session. UMD would go up by as much as 21 in the period at 31-01 with 5:59 left to play. SCSU scored the last five points of the first half to go into the intermission trailing 11 at 38-27.
The problem in the first half for the Huskies wasn’t opportunities, as they took more shots that the Bulldogs, it was execution. A 29% shooting clip, and 33% standard from behind arc, could not keep up with the 53% and 50% that was put up by the hosts.
The Husky shooting improved slightly in the second half, but it still couldn’t keep up with the Bulldogs who saw virtually no drop off.
The 19 points for Putz represents a new career high, one better that his total from last game. Putz hit 3-of-7 shots from behind the arc, and was a SCSU season best 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Jesse Fisher (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) had another strong day defensively as he led SCSU in rebounds with five.
This evening’s win for was the first for Minnesota Duluth in the last 12 tries against St. Cloud State. Earlier in the week, SCSU was voted #24 on this weeks edition of the NABC top-25 poll. The Huskies will look to get back on the winning track tomorrow at 8:00 pm when they take on Bemidji State in the BSU Gymnasium. SCSU has won 13 straight in their series with BSU including an 86-61 win last season in Halenbeck Hall to open the season. Bemidji State beat Concordia this evening and is currently 3-4 in the NSIC and 5-9 overall.
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