Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball vs. Northern State: NSU 85, SCSU 72
MEN’S BASKETBALL: #16 Wolves Pull Away Late, Huskies Fall, 72-85
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Andrew Bernstetter scored a team high 15 points, but he and the Huskies fell to #16 Northern State 85-72, just their second loss in Halenbeck Hall this season. |
St. Cloud, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team watched visiting Northern State shoot 64% from the field in the second half this evening (Jan. 24) as the Huskies fell to the 16th ranked Wolves, 72-85, and suffered just their second home loss of the season. The final 13 point spread doesn’t quite do the game justice as the score was tied seven times and the 4,120 fans at the game bared witness to 12 lead changes as two of the top teams in the NSIC battled for conference positioning.
With the loss St. Cloud State (12-6, 7-4) fell from second – where they began the day tied with four others – to a three-way tie for fifth, which includes NSU as well as Augustana who entered the weekend in first place. Northern State (14-4, 7-4) was in seventh place before jumping into the tie for fifth with this evening’s win.
The Huskies held the lead for the final time with 9:00 minutes remaining in the second half after Brett Carmichael (Elk River, Minn.) hit a pair of free throws to give the Huskies a 58-57 advantage. The Wolves then went on an 11-2 run to take a 66-60 lead with 5:10 left in the game. A pair of free throws by Josh Ortmann (Buffalo, Minn.) during the run were all the Huskies could manage as they struggled hitting shots from the floor.
Seven of the 11 points during the NSU run came on free throws, and Northern State tacked 18 points on the board from the charity stripe over the game’s final 9:00 minutes. During that same span, they made just five field goals, with the last coming with the game decided and only 32 seconds left to play.
The Huskies were less fortunate during that time as they were only able to get to the line eight times, while making good on seven of their attempts.
SCSU was able to get within four of NSU with 4:47 left to play after an Andrew Bernstetter (St. Joseph, Minn.) tip-in made it 66-62. However that would be the last field goal for the Huskies until Taylor Witt (Morris, Minn.) sank a three-pointer with just 59 seconds left on the clock.
The final dagger for the Huskies may have been a missed three-point attempt from Brett Putz (Forest City, Iowa) that appeared to be half-way down the basket, before rattling out. Had the shot gone through it would have been a four-point game with just over two minutes to go, but as it was the score remained 71-64 in favor of the Wolves and soon became 73-64 after two more NSU free throws.
Northern State was 10-of-12 from the line over the final 2:00 minutes to provide the final 85-72 score.
Bernstetter finished as the Huskies’ leading scorer with 15 points, and he was joined in double figures by Witt with 14, Carmichael and Putz with 13 and Theo Rothstein (St. Michael, Minn.) with 12.
The Wolves were led by Kevin Ratzsch who finished with a game high 19 points. NSU also had five players score in double-figures. Northern State’s shooting percentage of 64% for the game was compared to just 40% for the Huskies. NSU also held a 37-to-31 advantage on the boards, a 40-to-26 advantage in points in the paint, and a 24-to-10 lead in points off turnovers.
The Huskies must now hit the road in six of their final nine games to close out the season, starting next weekend when they travel to Wayne State on Jan. 30 and Augustana on Jan. 31. Each team lost twice this weekend on the road at Southwest Minnesota and Minnesota State. This will be the second meeting this season between WSC and SCSU with the first coming early in the season at the Hoopster Classic where SCSU won 78-66. Last season SCSU dropped 63-75 and 68-86 decisions to Augustana.
The top eight teams make the conference tournament in early March, and currently the top-seven teams in the standings are separated by just 1.5 games.
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