Huskies reach milestones in 80-60 victory over SMSU

Friday, December 14

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

8-2, 3-1NSIC

Southwest Minnesota State University

6-4, 1-3NSIC

Southwest Minn. St.

St. Cloud State

Sean Smith blocks NSIC leading-scorer Ryan Bruggeman in the second half of Friday evening's game.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

12/14/2018 10:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Friday night, St. Cloud State men's basketball fans got to see the amazing several times over.

The St. Cloud State University men's basketball game against Southwest Minnesota State University had it all, from last-second shots to king-sized blocks. Additionally, the game featured a near-perfect shooting performance, career-highs and personal milestones. Oh, and of course, a Huskies win. That's right, amid all the amazing, St. Cloud State defeated its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) foe, upending the Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs 80-60 in its most dominating conference victory of the 2018-19 season.

As per usual, the Huskies got off to a bit of a slow start to the game, as they trailed the Mustangs 5-0 after the opening minute of play. Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Howard College) kicked off the scoring for St. Cloud State with an easy layup under the basket to cut the lead to 5-2. However for the first nine points of the game, Southwest Minnesota State had an answer for every Husky basket, extending it's lead to 12-7 with back-to-back layups from Ryan Bruggeman and Kenny Byers.

However, St. Cloud State was not about to be deterred and let the game slip out of the team's grasp. In not to quiet fashion, the Huskies cut the lead to 14-11 on a fastbreak layup from Sean Smith (Seville, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) before Jace Kitchen (Dekalb, Ill. / Dekalb) took matters into his own hands. The senior made quite the statement for St. Cloud State by scoring four straight points to cut the lead to 16-15.

Smith, though, was a force to be reckoned with in the first half of the ball game. The senior scored 14 points in the opening 20 minutes of play, two of win came on a huge slam dunk to give the Huskies their first lead of the ball game at 17-16. Although the Mustangs managed to regain control at 18-17, St. Cloud State went on a 5-0 scoring run, as Kitchen scored five consecutive points to give the Huskies a 22-18 lead with 7:43 remaining in the opening half.

St. Cloud State continued to set the pace for the remainder of the first half but couldn't quite shake Southwest Minnesota State. While the Huskies managed to extend their lead to six points several times, the Mustangs offensive weapons were there to cut it back down to three or four points, eventually cutting the lead to 26-23 and 29-26 in the final three minutes. However, St. Cloud State's three-point shooters came up big in those moments, as Adam Heede-Andersen (Copenhagen, Denmark / Stenhus Gymnasium) hit two big threes to regain the six point lead for the Huskies.

From that point on, St. Cloud State's defense took over, never letting the Mustangs get within seven of the lead. However, there was one player who was absent in the Huskies stat line: senior guard Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook). The senior was held to zero points through the first 19 minutes and 59 seconds of play. However, the senior made his presence known at the very tail end of the half. After having missed all five of his shots in the opening half, Davis heaved a desperation shot at the end of the first half, his team already up 37-28. As the buzzer rang, the Huskies watched as the shot swished through the net, storming the court to hug Davis as they held a 40-28 advantage at the half.

Davis' half court shot set the tone for the rest of the game, as St. Cloud State went on to outscore Southwest Minnesota State 40-32 in the second half en route to the team's 80-60 victory. In fact, Davis would go on to score 16 points in the second half to end the game with 19. Of course, he needed just 10 to become the second player in program history to score 2000, a milestone that hadn't been reached by a Husky since 1981 season.

Smith, of course, was still a forced to be reckoned with for the Huskies in the second half. The senior from Spain scored a career-high and team-leading 25 points in the victory on nothing less than historic shooting. Smith was 10-11 from the floor Friday evening and 4-4 from the free throw line. His only missed shot came early in the first half, when he missed a three in the opening eight minutes of play. Otherwise, Smith was perfect from inside the paint, as he was 10-10 with four dunks in 32 minutes of play. He also pulled in a team-leading and season-high 13 rebounds, tallying his second double-double of the season.

Thanks to the 80-60 victory, St. Cloud State is now 8-2 on the year with a 3-1 mark in NSIC play. The Huskies will return to action on Saturday when they host Sioux Falls at 5:30 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minnesota.