Huskies prevail for 107-101 double OT win

Saturday, January 5

Bemidji, MN

5:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

5-310-4; NSIC

107

101

Bemidji State University

1-74-8; NSIC

OT 1

OT 2

St. Cloud State

107

Bemidji State

101

Gage Davis scored 42 points in the Huskies 107-101 win over Bemidji State.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

1/5/2019 7:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BEMIDJI, MINN. – It took 60 minutes, 208 points, 87 rebounds and 153 shots, but the St. Cloud State men's basketball team finally snapped its two-game losing streak.

After back-to-back Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) losses, and an equally disappointing scoring drought, so to speak, the Huskies were hungry for another conference win. The only thing standing in their way were the pesky Bemidji State University Beavers. Fortunately, St. Cloud State was able to leave Bemidji, Minnesota victories, as the team prevailed for an impressive 107-101 double overtime win over Bemidji State Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies offense was no longer sputtering against the Beavers, as they snapped their poor-shooting streak by scoring 42 points in the first half. Seniors Brindley Theisen (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Cathedral) and Gage Davis (Bolingbrook, Ill. / Bolingbrook) provided the majority of St. Cloud State's offense in the opening half, as they scored a combined 35 points in the first 20 minutes of play. Theisen scored 15 points in the first half alone on 5-6 shooting, going 4-5 from beyond the arch, while Davis doubled his Friday night point total, tallying 20 points on 8-12 shooting in the first half alone.

However, despite the halftime score, the Huskies found themselves in a familiar position in the early minutes of the half. Bemidji State jumped out to an early 16-8 lead on impressive shooting, as St. Cloud State's defense struggled to keep Logan Bader at bay. The Huskies also lost one of their top scorers, senior forward Sean Smith (Seville, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy), in the early minutes of the half to foul trouble, leaving the team without one of its leading scorers.

Still, St. Cloud State would not be deterred, as slowly but surely, the team chipped away at the Beavers lead. After scoring the Huskies first eight points of the game, Davis continued his scoring surge but several other players did as well. Thesien joined the scoring, as did Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Howard College) and Jace Kitchen (Dekalb, Ill. / Dekalb). The three upper classmen whittled the Bemidji State lead to 20-16 before Theisen eventually gave St. Cloud State its first lead of the ball game at 21-20.

From that point on, the two teams traded baskets, though the Beavers never were able to regain a true lead. In fact, the Huskies outscored Bemidji State 20-17 in the final 10 minutes of the first half, allowing the team to take a 42-37 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Unfortunately, St. Cloud State did not get out to a great start in the second half, as the Beavers outscored the Huskies in the early minutes to take their first lead since the first half at 53-50. Jake Mussman (St. Cloud, Minn. / St. Cloud Tech) did manage to tie things at 53-53, keeping things from getting too far out of reach for St. Cloud State. From that point, the Huskies managed to answer every basket Bemidji State scored, evening the score at 55-55 and 58-58 thanks to Davis. The senior brought his point total to 25 with a three and a layup to even the score with 10:58 remaining in regulation.

From that point on, the two teams traded baskets for the majority of regulation. Whenever the Beavers managed to take the lead, the Huskies tied it or took a lead of their own, primarily on the hot shooting of Kitchen. The senior managed to hit three straight threes and eventually gave St. Cloud State a 74-72 lead with 5:34 remaining in regulation. However, the Beavers continued to tie the score and kept the Huskies scoreless for the final minute of regulation.

With the score deadlocked at 83-83, the two teams needed overtime to determine who the victor would be. Unfortunately, the first overtime wasn't enough for St. Cloud State and Bemidji State. The two teams were still deadlocked 94-94 after the initial five minutes of overtime, sending the two teams into a second overtime. This time, the Huskies managed to come out on top, as Davis, Theisen, Kitchen and Onwuka all hit either shots or free throws in the final overtime period to clinch the 107-101 victory for St. Cloud State.

Davis made a little bit of history Saturday evening, scoring a career-high 42 points in the victory with eight rebounds. The number ranks fourth all-time in single-game scoring, and Davis becomes just the 12^th player in program history to score 40+ points in a single game. He's also the first player to achieve the mark since 2010, when Taylor Witt scored 43 points against Midwestern State University.

Theisen and Kitchen also impressed Saturday afternoon, as they scored 23 and 20 points for the Huskies respectively. The 20 points were a career-high for Kitchen, who was 6-14 from three points range, while Theisen was 5-10. Onwuka also capped off a career-day with a team-leading and career-high 16 rebounds against the Beavers.

With the win, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 10-4 and the team improves to 5-3 in NSIC play. The Huskies will return to action on Friday, January 11, when they host Minot State University at 7:30 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall.