Men’s Basketball Tops No. 8 Northern State, 76-61

Friday, January 19

8 p.m.

St. Cloud State

12-6, 8-4NSIC

Northern State University

19-2, 13-1NSIC

Northern State

St. Cloud State

Jon Averkamp

Photo by: Paul Middlestaedt

1/19/2018 11:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

St. Cloud, Minn. – Senior Jon Averkamp scored a game-high 18 points to help lead the St. Cloud State men's basketball team (12-6, 8-4 NSIC) to an upset 76-61 victory over No. 8 Northern State (19-2, 12-1 NSIC) on Friday night, Jan. 19, at Halenbeck Hall. The win stopped the Wolves 18-game winning streak

Averkamp shot 7-for-8 from the field plus had five rebounds and two steals. Junior Gage Davis was steady all-around with 16 points, six rebounds, nine assists and three blocks. Junior Sean Smith chipped in 15 points and six rebounds. Junior Adam Heede-Andersen recorded nine points, two steals and three assists. Junior Brindley Theisen picked up seven points. Senior Andy Foley totaled seven points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Northern State had four players reach double figures and were led by 12 points from Carter Evans. Evans also had five rebounds. Cole Dahl, DJ Pollard and Logan Doyle also recorded 10 points.

The Huskies shot 52.0 percent from the field (26-for-50), 30.8 percent from three-point range (4-for-13) and 74.1 percent from the free throw line (20-for-27). The team also had 29 rebounds, 16 assists, four blocks and five steals. The team also only tuned the ball over seven times in the contest. Northern State, who came into the game as one of the top shooting teams in the league, had a 43.4 percent shooting percentage from the field (23-for-53), 37.5 percent from three-point range (6-for-16) and 100 percent from the line (9-for-9)

The Huskies led 37-23 at the half and were able to keep control throughout in a game that featured no tied scores or lead changes. The team's largest lead was 20, 49-29, with 14:32 remaining in the game on the second of two made free throws from Smith. The Wolves were never able to get the game back into single digits after the 48 second mark of the first half after a made three from Averkamp put SCSU up 35-23.

St. Cloud State men's basketball team keeps the home stand going and hosts MSU Moorhead (5-14, 3-10 NSIC) on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 6 p.m.

Notes:
- The team is now 12-3 this season when scoring 69 or more points
- The program has won nine of the last 13 games.
- The 52 percent shooting was the ninth time the program has shot better than 50 percent from the field as a team this season
- Jon Averkamp's 18 points was his 14th time in 18 games leading the team in scoring.
- He has scored in double figures in 16 of the 18 games.
- Gage Davis came within one assist of reaching double figures in helpers for the second time in his career.
- The team is 7-3 when Davis plays this year.
- Sean Smith with his 15 points against Northern State has scored in double figures 10 times on the campaign.