Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball vs. Southwest Minnesota: SCSU 68, SMSU 88
Huskies Drop Third Straight, Fall to Southwest Minnesota 88-68
Friday, January 16, 2009
Taylor Witt (L), Andrew Bernstetter (R) and the Huskies lost for the first time in Halenbeck Hall this season with their 88-68 loss to Southwest Minnesota. |
St. Cloud, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team lost their third game in a row this evening (Jan. 16), as Southwest Minnesota used a 88-68 effort to become the first visitor to win in Halenbeck Hall this season.
Southwest Minnesota (12-5, 5-3) took control of the game early in the first half and held a 10-point lead at 31-21 with 7:56 remaining. St. Cloud State (10-5, 5-3) then put together their best stretch of the game and went on a 9-to-0 run to get within one at 31-30 after a three-point play from Spencer Bartz (Hinckley, Minn.).
That was as close as it would get for the Huskies, though, as the Mustangs closed the half on an 11-to-2 run to take a 10-point lead into the intermission at 42-32.
Coming out of the break was more of the same as SMSU outscored SCSU 19-to-7 over the first 8:29 of the second half and held a 22-point lead at 61-39. Southwest Minnesota would go on to lead by as much as 26 before the game ended with the 88-68 final.
In a -- at times -- sloppy game, the Huskies lost the turnover battle by a 15-to-9 margin, which translated into a 24-to-9 Mustang advantage in points off turnovers. Also, playing for the second consecutive game without starting center and leading scorer Matt Schneck (Whitefish Bay, Wis.), SCSU was outdone down low, as SMSU held a 42-to-32 advantage in points in the paint.
Taylor Witt (Morris, Minn.) finished as the only Husky in double figures with 11 points while the Mustangs posted three players with 11 or more. Taylor Huseby scored a game high 22 while Nick Dale and Kevin Andrews added 18 and 11 points respectively to aid the Mustang effort.
Southwest Minnesota also out-shot St. Cloud State, 54.5%-to-42.6% from the field and 87.0%-to-78.6% from the line that when all added up leads to the first home loss since late last season.
Now at 5-3 in NSIC play, SCSU is tied with SMSU and Northern State in fifth place. Tomorrow’s opponent, Minnesota State, used a comeback win over Concordia this evening to improve to 6-2 and is in a third place tie with Augustana. The Mavericks will enter tomorrows contest at 15-3 overall and ranked ninth in the nation. It will also be the Huskies first game this season against a ranked opponent. Tip-off is set for 8:00 pm.
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