Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball vs. Minnesota State: MSU 78, SCSU 84
Witt Carries Huskies to 84-78 Upset Over #9 Minnesota State
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Taylor Witt scored a team high 19 points and carried the Huskies down the stretch -- outscoring the entire MSU team 9-8 in the final four minutes -- to give the Huskies the win. |
St. Cloud, Minn. – Taylor Witt (Morris, Minn.) scored a team high 19 points, but none were bigger than his posterizing dunk over Minnesota State’s 6-11 center with 2:04 left in the game. Witt and the St. Cloud State men’s basketball team overcame a 11-point second half deficit to beat ninth ranked Minnesota State, 84-78 this evening (Jan. 17) in Halenbeck Hall, snapping a six-game losing streak to the Mavericks in the process.
Witt hit a pair of free throws at the 3:48 mark of the second half to bring St. Cloud State (11-5, 6-3) to even at 70-70. Then on the defensive end he came up with the rebound and raced down the court before hitting Andrew Bernstetter (St. Joseph, Minn.) in the lane with one of his career high nine assists. Bernstetter then slammed a dunk home to give the Huskies a 72-70 lead at the 3:31 mark, that they would not lose.
The two free throws at 3:48 was the start of a stretch that saw Witt score nine points – and seven straight at one point – to close the game, compared to just eight from the entire Minnesota State (15-4, 6-3) team. With his team up just one with 1:04 left to play, Witt pulled up behind the arc and nailed his second three of the game to give the Huskies a four-point lead.
In the final 36 seconds of the game, the Huskies made 5-of-6 free throws to put the game on ice and seal their first win since Jan. 3, and their first over Minnesota State since the 2005-06 season.
The Huskies out-shot the Mavericks from the field 50.0%-to-45.3%, as well as 56.3%-to-38.2% in the second half. From behind the arc, SCSU held a 31.0%-to-16.7% advantage.
Five players scored in double figures for the Huskies, including Craig Coenen (Kaukauna, Wis.) who came off the bench to have his best game of the season. Coenen finished with the first double-double of his career tallying 16 points and 10 rebounds, with the 16 points also representing a new career high.
Also posting a double-double – for the fourth time this season – was Bernstetter, who scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds of his own.
With 16 points, Josh Ortmann (Buffalo, Minn.) had his best game since the calendar turned and hit several big shots for the Huskies, including a three-point play at the 10:04 mark of the second half that capped a Husky rally and brought them within one at 57-58.
Brett Putz (Forest City, Iowa) was the final Husky in double figures, as he added 11, including a 2-for-2 mark at the free throw line to extend his streak to 14 straight from the stripe without a miss.
In the first half MSU scored the last six points of the period to turn a one-point lead (34-33) with 2:59 to play, into a seven-point lead at 40-33 as the teams headed into the locker room.
Travis Nelson scored a game high 28 points to pace MSU, but no other Maverick finished in double figures. Mitch Gosson who entered the game averaging better than 12 points for the Mavs, got into foul trouble early and was held to just four points in the game. The Huskies also held the Mavericks leading scorer, Jake Morrow, to just nine points, nearly half his average.
The win is first for SCSU over a ranked opponent since last season when they beat then #10 South Dakota, 75-71, in Halenbeck Hall. The road doesn’t get any easier for St. Cloud State though, as next weekend they welcome U-Mary and Northern State to town on Jan. 23 and 24 respectively. U-Mary posted two wins this weekend and Northern State is currently ranked #12 in the nation.
Each at 6-3, SCSU and MSU are tied for fourth place in the NSIC.
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