Smith lifts Huskies to 77-69 victory over Seattle Pacific

Friday, November 23

Point Loma, Calif.

7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

4-1

Seattle Pacific University

2-1

St. Cloud State

Seattle Pacific

Sean Smith scored a season-high 25 points to lead St. Cloud State to a 77-69 win Friday.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

11/23/2018 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – Statistics and analytics will tell you that the sophomore slump is very much a real thing. From baseball to football to basketball, the second year of an athlete's career is statistically one of the worst of their careers.

Sophomore slumps don't exist for St. Cloud State University men's basketball senior forward Sean Smith (Seville, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy).

The senior and second-year Husky came up big time Friday evening, scoring an impressive 25 points of 60 percent shooting to help the Huskies open the Point Loma Thanksgiving Classic with a 77-69 victory over Seattle Pacific Univeristy.

St. Cloud State certainly needed Smith's strong performance after a rough first half. The Huskies trailed 33-29 after the first 20 minutes of play, the first time they've ever trailed a game entering halftime this season, after shooting just 14-30 from the floor and 1-7 from beyond the arc. In fact, no Husky scored over 10 points in the opening 20 minutes of play, including Smith, who scored just eight points and tallied two rebounds in the first half.

However, St. Cloud State started to find its rhythm in the second, slowly closing the gap on the Falcons with back-to-back baskets from two seniors: Smith and Brindley Theisen (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Cathedral. Twenty seconds into the half, Smith cut Seattle Pacific's lead to 33-31 with a layup in the paint before Theisen hit a three one minute later to give the Huskies their first lead of the ball game at 34-33.

In the end, Theisen's three was all St. Cloud State needed, as the team took the 34-33 lead and never looked back. In fact, the Huskies went on a 12-2 scoring run in the ensuing minutes, with four different student-athletes tallying a basket during the run. Smith led the way by scoring half of the team's 12 points in the three-minute run, while Trevon Marshall (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township), Theisen and Diamond Onwuka (Seville, Spain / Howard College) each tallied at least one basket to help the St. Cloud State hold a 46-35 lead at 15:22.

However, the Huskies never could shake the Falcons in the second half, as they slowly but surely chipped away at St. Cloud State's lead. Every time the Huskies scored a basket, Seattle Pacific seemed to have an answer, eventually getting within one of St. Cloud State 56-55 lead with 5:38 remaining in regulation, spurring head coach Matt Reimer to call timeout.

Coming out of the time out, the Huskies scored two quick points on free throws from Smith, extended the lead back to at least a basket at 58-55. The Falcons, though, answered with a layup of their own, forcing St. Cloud State to answer or lose the lead late in the game. Marshall came up clutch with a layup and Seattle Pacific was never quite able to recover. Yes, the Falcons managed to score some points against the Huskies defense and stay within 10 points of the lead, but they were never again able to get within striking distance as St. Cloud State went on to take the game by a score of 77-69.

Smith was the leading scorer of the game Friday evening, scoring a season-high 25 points, including 17 in the second half alone, with a team-leading seven rebounds and six blocks. Senior Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) and Marshall each scored 13 points Friday evening, while Jace Kitchen (Dekalb, Ill. / Dekalb) added 12 points on the night. Marshall additionally tallied four steals in the victory.

With the win, the St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 4-1 this season, the team's best record to start the season since the 2014-15 season. The Huskies will return to action Saturday when they take on host Point Loma University in the final game of the Thanksgiving Classic. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in San Diego, California.