St. Cloud State University

Mankato, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men’s basketball team saw a five-point halftime lead slip away as they fell on the road for the second straight night.  Minnesota State outscored SCSU 44-31 in the second half en route to the 75-67 win. 

Before the Huskies built their lead, however, the Mavericks came out of the gate hot and by the 14:20 mark had doubled up the Huskies at 16-8, forcing head coach Kevin Schlagel to burn his first timeout.  The Huskies is appeared out of sync early on, as they were forced into awkward shots while the Mavericks seemed more able to set up their offense and work the ball towards the basket. 

After the timeout, though, SCSU scored six straight points to cut the lead to 16-14 as Taylor Witt (Morris, Minn.), Theo Rothstein (St. Michael, Minn.), and Craig Coenen (Kaukauna, Wis.) all found the bucket. 

After getting within two, and a timeout on the floor, the Huskies continued on their run capped by a Brett Carmicheal (Elk River, Minn.) bucket tied it at 20-20 with 7:09 to go.  From their a basket by Minnesota State led to a Brett Putz (Forest City, Wis.) three and St. Cloud State had their first lead at 23-22 at the 6:19 mark.

The Huskies would lead for the rest of the period and went into half time off their second buzzer beater of the season.  This time it was Putz heaving the shot up from half court to give the guests a 36-31 lead heading into the locker room.

Out of the break the two teams traded shots and played even.  After nearly six minutes in the second half, the margin was the same at 47-42 with each team scoring 11 points.

Minnesota State then began to close the gap, and two Jesse Clark free throws led to a Harry Boyce lay-in to get the Mavs within one at 46-47 at the 13:31 mark.  Less than a minute later Boyce made two free throws to tie it at 48-all with 12:56 to play in the game. 

After the score was tied, each team missed on their next chance to break it, but MSU would not miss twice as Mitch Gosson hit a shot right under the bucket to give MSU their first lead since 6:52 of the first half at 50-48.

MSU would go on the score five more points to cap a 7-0 run before SCSU got back on the board care of Josh Ortmann (Buffalo, Minn.) at 8:24.  Ortmann hit both his free throws to bring SCSU back within five at 50-55.  After a defensive stop, Carmichael hit a jumper and the Huskies were back within three at 55-52 with 7:37 on the clock. 

Witt then hit a three from the corner, Carmichael hit two free throws, and SCSU had the lead back at 57-56 at the 6:29 mark.  It was short lived though as MSU took it back 10 seconds later at 58-57 before going up by as much as eight at 69-61 with 2:33 left.

The Mavericks made their free throws down the stretch, going 10-for-10 from the line in the final three minutes to put the game on ice. 

Each team shot 39% from the field and the Huskies shot 20% from behind the arc while holding the Mavericks without a three for the first time in 20 years.  Witt led the Huskies with 16 points while Putz added 15 and Andrew Bernstetter (St. Joseph, Minn.) knocked in 10 to finish in double figures.  Coenen pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. 

The Huskies turned the ball over 12 times compared to just four for the Mavericks which translated to 13-5 MSU advantage in points off turnovers.  They also outscored SCSU 44-32 in the paint.   

For the second straight night Kevin Schlagel missed his chance to surpass Butch Raymond on the SCSU all-times wins list, but he will get another on Feb. 21 when the Huskies travel north to take on Minnesota, Crookston in the lone game of the week.  The Golden Eagles are 4-20 on the season, 2-15 in the NSIC, and mired in a five-game losing streak.  In their previous meeting in Halenbeck Hall SCSU scored a 91-54 win over UMC.