Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball vs. Metro State: MSC 71, SCSU 82
Career Night For Witt Leads Huskies to 82-71 Win Over Metro State
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Taylor Witt nabbed career highs with 27 points and seven three's to lead SCSU to a season opening 82-71 victory over Metro State in the Radisson Suite Hotel St. Cloud Hoopster Classic. |
St. Cloud, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team opened the 2008-09 season this afternoon (Nov. 15) by hosting the annual Radisson Suite Hotel St. Cloud Hoopster Classic in Halenbeck Hall. Playing in the late game of the day and hosting Metro State College of Denver, the Huskies made it worth the wait for the fans as they strung together 12 straight points to close the game and seal their first victory of the season at 82-71.
The star of the night was sophomore Taylor Witt (Morris, Minn.) who drained a career high 27 points and hit 7-10 three’s for the contest. The point total was nearly 10 better than his previous best of 18 set in his first season.
Also charting a career high was Andrew Bernstetter (St. Joseph, Minn.) who grabbed 10 rebounds for the first time on his way to his first career double-double, as he added 16 points.
Also hitting double figures was Matt Schneck (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) who totaled 11 on the day.
The Huskies started fast and raced out to an eight point lead at 14-6 less than four minutes into the game. Then when Witt hit a free throw at 5:11 to make the score 35-25, the Huskies had their biggest lead of the first half. Over the final five minutes before the intermission though, Metro State would chip away until they were within five at the break at 41-36.
Coming out of halftime, the Roadrunners seized momentum and scored the first seven points to take their first lead at 43-41, at the 16:21 mark. The lead would change hands twice more in the frame before SCSU took back control of the game for good.
After Metro State scored to extend their lead to 54-41 at 10:58, Bernstetter hit a runner in the lane and Witt followed with one of his seven threes to take back the lead at 56-54. The Huskies would not trail again.
With just over three minutes to go in the game, and the Roadrunners dangerously close to regaining the lead after a pair of free throws made the score 69-66 in favor of the Huskies, Witt hooked up with Bernstetter for a perfectly placed alley-oop that put the final nail in the coffin for Metro State.
The Huskies would go on to score 12 straights points and lead 81-66 with just 18 seconds left to play. A three-pointer and a lay-up by the Roadrunners were the game’s final tallies, but the win was already sealed for SCSU.
With the 82-71 win the Huskies sit at 1-0 on the young season, a place they have now been for 23 straight seasons. Tomorrow SCSU will look to go 2-0 as they take on Wayne State in the final game of the Hoopster Classic. The Wildcats also won their game today, beating Minnesota Crookston 60-47 in the early game. The Huskies and Wildcats are set to tip-off at 4:00 pm tomorrow (Nov. 16) after the completion of Metro State and Minnesota Crookston at 2:00 pm.
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