Huskies suffer second straight loss at Crookston

Friday, January 4

Crookston, MN

7:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

9-4 (4-3NSIC)

University of Minnesota Crookston

9-6 (3-4NSIC)

St. Cloud State

Minnesota Crookston

Brindley Theisen scored a team-leading 13 points in the loss.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

1/4/2019 9:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

CROOKSTON, MINN. – The St. Cloud State University men's basketball team had yet to lose two games in a row during the 2018-19 season. In fact, the Huskies had just three losses on their record and none of them ever game in consecutive fashion. Unfortunately, St. Cloud State suffered yet another loss against a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) opponent, as the team fell to the University of Minnesota-Crookston 76-57 Friday evening.

The Huskies were in the game through the first five minutes, as they were able to keep pace with the Golden Eagles high scoring offense. In fact, St. Cloud State only trailed by two points through the first few minutes of the half, thanks in large part of Sean Smith (Seville, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) and Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Howard College). The two Spaniards scored all nine of the Huskies opening points, allowing them to keep within five of the Golden Eagles 14-9 lead.

That was when things unfortunately took a turn for the worst. Minnesota-Crookston scored nine unanswered points in roughly a minute and a half and proceeded to take a 23-9 lead over St. Cloud State. Brindley Theisen (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Cathedral) managed to stop the bleeding, as his layup and one cut the lead to 23-12 before a three by Jace Kitchen (Dekalb, Ill. / Dekalb) seemed to give the Huskies life by cutting the lead to 23-15.

Unfortunately, that was the closet St. Cloud State would get for the remainder of the half, as the Golden Eagles managed to keep the Huskies top offensive threats quiet in the remaining 10 minutes of play. In fact, the team's leading scorer Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) was 0-5 in the first 20 minutes of play, while Smith and Theisen scored just eight points in the first half, as St. Cloud State walked into the locker room trailing 45-26 at the half.

The deficit was unfortunately too much for the Huskies to overcome in the second half, despite scoring the first basket. Davis finally managed to crack through on the scoresheet, driving through the lane for a layup to cut the lead to 45-28. Sadly, Minnesota Crookston seemed to have an answer for every St. Cloud State basket, maintaining a comfortable 20-point lead for a majority of the final 20 minutes. Even when the Huskies did manage to cut the lead down to 18 or 17 points, the Golden Eagles responded with a handful of baskets, resulting in the 76-57 loss.

St. Cloud State was once again held to under .400 shooting for the second consecutive NSIC game, as the team shot just .356 from the floor and .333 from beyond the arc. The Huskies did shoot .818 from the free throw line, though it unfortunately wasn't enough to overcome the deficit.

Theisen was the team's top scorer, as he tallied 13 points in 29 minutes of play, while Smith ended the game with 12. Davis recorded yet another double-double against NSIC opponents with 10 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds in the defeat.

With the loss, St. Cloud State's overall record falls to 9-4 and the team is now 4-3 in NSIC play. The Huskies will try to snap their two-game losing streak on Saturday when they take on Bemidji State University at 5:30 p.m. in Bemidji, Minnesota.