Seniors guide Huskies to 76-64 victory at Mary

Friday, December 7

Bismarck, ND

7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

6-2 (1-1NSIC)

University of Mary

4-4 (1-1NSIC)

St. Cloud State

University of Mary

Gage Davis tallied an impressive 25 points and 14 rebounds in the Huskies 76-64 win over Mary.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

12/7/2018 9:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BISMARCK, N.D. – It's one of the longest road trips of the year for the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team. The Huskies sat on a bus for roughly five hours Thursday to get to the University of Mary, hoping to get their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) win of the season. Turns out, the long ride paid off as St. Cloud State powered through to victory, taking down Mary 76-64 for its first conference win of 2018-19.

The Huskies and Marauders matched each other shot-for-shot in the opening 10 minutes of play, but the home team was still able to jump ahead 26-20 thanks to strong shooting from the floor and beyond the arc. St. Cloud State also struggled to stay out of trouble foul wise, as Jace Kitchen (Dekalb, Ill. /Dekalb), Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Howard College) and Sean Smith (Athens, Georgia / Canarias Basketball Academy) all committed at least one foul in the first 10 minutes of play.

The Huskies did manage to find their groove, as they rattled off eight straight points to take a 28-26 lead over Mary. For three minutes, St. Cloud State was hot from the three point line, as Kitchen and Smith hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to take the game at 26-26. A scoop layup from Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) gave the Huskies their first lead of the game at 28-26, which they eventually extended to 36-28 with more hot shooting from, who else, Smith and Davis.

However, St. Cloud State never could shake the Marauders, they rattled off six unanswered points of their own the tie the game at 38-38. Again, foul trouble started to burn the Huskies, this time on the offensive side of the ball. St. Cloud state committed two consecutive offensive turnovers on fouls, as Smith and Davis both were called for charges on the ensuing offensive possessions. Still, the Huskies managed to score three more points in the half, but so did the Marauders, leaving the two teams deadlocked at 41-41 at the half.

Things seemed to be rolling for St. Cloud State to start the second half, as Smith got things rolling with a statement dunk to give the Huskies the 43-41 lead. St. Cloud State then capitalized on Mary turnovers, scoring five points to take a seemingly definitive 48-41 lead.

However, the Huskies just couldn't put the Marauders away, as they tied the game and took a 50-48 lead of their own with 14:26 remaining in regulation. Though St. Cloud State managed to tie the game, it never could quite regain the substantial lead it had at the start of the second half and was forced to even play catch up multiple times in the second half.

The seniors, though, specifically Brindley Theisen (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Cathedral), Smith and Davis, put the Huskies on their shoulders, giving the team a 69-61 lead with 3:13 remaining in the game. In fact, together, those three seniors accounted for 60 of St. Cloud State's 76 points and 24 of the team's 38 rebounds, as well as being absolutely clutch down the stretch. Smith scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half, while Theisen and Davis each scored in double-digits in the second, guiding the Huskies to their impressive 76-64 victory.
Davis was the best overall player on the court during the game, as he tallied 25 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks in St. Cloud State's victory. Theisen added 18 points in the win, while Smith tallied 17 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. She also tallied five blocks, bringing his season total to 42.

With the win, the Huskies overall record improves to 6-2 and they are now 1-1 in NSIC play. St. Cloud State will return to the court on Saturday, when it takes on Minot State University at 5:30 p.m. in Minot, North Dakota.