Men’s Basketball Starts Second Half Of Season Hosting Minot State and the University of Mary This Week

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State men's basketball team (8-6, 4-1 NSIC) starts the second half of the regular season by hosting Minot State (6-6, 2-4 NSIC) and the University of Mary (5-7, 3-3 NSIC) this week. The program takes on the Minot State Beavers on Friday, Dec. 30, at 8 p.m. and then welcomes in the Mary Marauders for a 6 p.m. contest on Saturday, Dec. 31.

For complete information for tickets against Minot State and University of Mary, please visit www.scsutickets.com or call 1-877-SCSUTICKETS. As always, all SCSU students with a valid SCSU student ID card will be admitted to the game for FREE. Just show your card at the gate and you get in FREE! Additionally, all youths up to a senior in high school can get access to the game for FREE with a paid adult ticket for both games.

Scouting Minot State

The Beavers are coached by Matt Murken, who is in his fifth year running the program.
Minot State has won two of the team's last three games including a home victory over defending Division II National Champion Augustana
The Beavers took a long break for the holidays and the contest against SCSU this Friday will be the first for the program since beating UMary on Dec. 17 by an 82-75 score.
The program hasn't played on the road since Dec. 3.
Tyler Rudolph is the team's leader with his averages of 20.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Rudolph is also shooting 54.8 percent from the field, 40.5 percent from three-point range and 81.5 percent from the free throw line.
The program has a total of six players averaging in double figures
Luis Ricci Maia sports an average of 13.8 points and 4.2 assists per game.
Nathan Mertens tallies 10.8 points per game.
Stevan Jovanovic puts up 10.7 points per game.
Nathaniel Moore is shooting 55 percent from three-point range as he totals 10.4 points per game, while Russ Davis tallies 10.1 points a contest

Scouting Mary

The Marauders are coached by Joe Kittell, who is in his second year running the program.
The University of Mary has won three of the last five games, but lost to Minot State by an 82-75 score last time out on Dec. 17.
Bryan Jefferson is the leading scorer for the program at 15.6 points per game.
Jefferson also leads the team in rebounding with his average of 6.8 per contest.
Damonta Henry also averages in double figures at 14.6 points per game.
Pat Thomas leads the team in both assists (50) and steals (17).

Prior Meetings

St. Cloud State is 7-3 all-time against Minot State since the teams started playing each other in 1946-47.
SCSU split the two games against the Beavers last season.
The Huskies defeated the Beavers by an 80-72 score at home last season (1/23/16) with Scottie Stone leading the offense with his 18 points and five assists.
Seth Mortag had a double-double against the Beavers with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
SCSU then lost to MSU by a 97-89 score in the second to last game of the regular season (2/19/16).
Gage Davis led the team with 24 points and three steals.
Nebojsa Stanojevic tallied nine rebounds.
The Huskies won both games against the University of Mary last season and are 11-8 all-time against the Marauders.
Stone put up 32 points in the team's 90-84 victory at Halenbeck Hall (1/22/16).
Davis contributed 20 points and nine rebounds in the victory.
Jon Averkamp pulled down 10 rebounds.
The program defeated UMary by an 80-73 score in Bismarck (2/20/16) with Davis putting up 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Stone totaled 25 points in the second game of last year's series.

Listen to The Game
The games will be aired live on The Fan 1390 AM with J.W. Cox on the call. All SCSU games can also be heard online at www.1390thefan.com

Listen To/Attend The Basketball Coaches Show
The Basketball Coaches Show with weekly guests head men's basketball coach Matt Reimer and head women's basketball coach Lori Fish is held at 7 p.m. every Monday during the basketball season at the Green Mill in downtown St. Cloud. The show will resume on Monday, Jan. 9. Fans are invited to come out and listen to the show live at the Green Mill and enjoy some great menu discounts available during the show every Monday. The show is hosted by J.W. Cox and airs on KXSS The Fan 1390 AM. The show can be heard online at this link

Live Stats Anyone?
St. Cloud State is running live stats on the website for the games against Minot State and Mary this weekend

Watch The Games
Fans around the world can watch the games online through Stretch Internet's SCSU Portal.

Read This Week's Game Notes
A complete collection of interesting game notes, stats, rosters and records is available weekly in the SCSU Basketball Notes Package.

Notables

St. Cloud State went 2-0 in the two games before a break for the holidays with wins over Minnesota Duluth and Jamestown.
SCSU has now won five of the six games in the month of December.
St. Cloud State ran the conference record to 4-1 with a 63-58 come-from-behind victory over the Bulldogs.
It was the first game this season that SCSU has won after trailing at the half.
The program is now 4-1 in NSIC play for the first time since the 2013 season and the fourth time since 2011 (2011, 2012, 2013, 2016).
The 58 points allowed to UMD was the lowest point total give up by the program since 49 against Crown College last season (12/30/15).
It was the 14th time the program has given up 60 points or less in a game over the last three plus seasons.
Scottie Stone led the team with 30 points and accounted for 48 percent of the team's points in the victory.
Mark Hall scored 10 points and reached double figures for the fifth time this season against UMD.
SCSU outrebounded the Bulldogs, 45-33, and have won the battle of the boards in 13 of the 14 games.
The 63 points in the win was the team's lowest point total in victory since scoring 62 and defeating Minnesota Crookston, 62-50, during the 2010-11 season (1/21/11).
The Huskies then topped Jamestown by a 99-77 score on Dec. 19.
Stone scored 30 points for the second straight game in hit six threes and all 10 of his free throws.
In the last four games, Stone is averaging 24.8 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field (27-for-54) and 50 percent from three-point range (19-for-38) plus 96.3 percent from the free throw line (26-for-27).
He was one of four players in double figures against the Jimmies.
Davis tallied 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Over the last 10 games (eight SCSU wins), Davis is averaging 19.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.
Jon Averkamp recorded 13 points and six rebounds.
He has scored in double figures in five of the last six games that he has played in.
The 99 points scored was a season-high for the program.
The team has how now scored 90 or more points in six (all wins) of the last 10 games.
SCSU led from start to finish in the games against Jamestown for the third time this season and the seventh time over the last two years.
The program is 25-12 overall at Halenbeck Hall since the start of the 2014-15 season.
For his outstanding week, Stone was honored as the NSIC North Player of the Week on Dec. 20 for the second time in his career.
Stone averaged 30 points per game, while shooting 48.5 percent from the field (16-for-33), 50 percent from three-point range (12-for-24) and 94.1 percent from the charity stripe.
He also pulled down 11 rebounds (5.5 per game) in leading the team to both victories.

Up Next

The Huskies get on the road next and travel to Bemidji State (Jan. 6) and then to Minnesota Crookston (Jan. 7) next week.
The Huskies are 99-41 all-time against BSU including a 98-95 victory in a tough fought game earlier this season (12/3/16).
Gage Davis led the team 27 points and 18 rebounds against the Beavers.
Kurt Hall picked up the second double-double of his career with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Scottie Stone tallied 19 points and Mark Hall had 16 points and four assists.
SCSU is 27-2 all-time against UMC including a 98-78 victory in St. Cloud earlier this season (12/2/16).
The program was led by Davis' 27 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists against the Golden Eagles.
Stone scored all 17 of his points in the last 11:31 of the game.