Huskies survive to beat Dakota Wesleyan 75-71

Saturday, November 23

St. Cloud, Minn.

4 p.m.

St. Cloud State

3-3,0-0NSIC

Dakota Wesleyan University

0-1

Dakota Wesleyan

St. Cloud St.

Ilya Tyrtyshnik drains a three in the Huskies win over Dakota Wesleyan.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

11/23/2019 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – A win is a win, is a win, is a win. That's what the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team did Saturday afternoon. Though it wasn't St. Cloud State's prettiest win of the season, the team held off a furious second-half surge from Dakota Wesleyan University, hanging on for an impressive 75-71 nonconference victory.

It took the Huskies offense and defense a while to get going against the Tigers, as they quickly fell into a 6-2 deficit in the opening minutes. However, once St. Cloud State got going, the team was hard to stop, as the Huskies shot a combined 55.6 percent from the floor with a 40.0 mark from beyond the arc. Trevon Marshall (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township) did most of St. Cloud State's scoring, as his 17 first half points propelled the Huskies to a 44-33 halftime lead.

The 11 point cushion was almost not enough, as St. Cloud State's defense could not stop Dakota Wesleyan's Nick Harden in the opening minutes of the second. Harden unleashed for 15 second half points, whittling the Huskies somewhat comfortable lead to 50-41 with 16:04 remaining in the first half.

A 12-point scoring run by the Tigers cut St. Cloud State's lead even further, as they pulled within one at 50-49 with 13:15 remaining in regulation. Andrijia Baltancic (Bergen, Norway / Academy of Arts) regained a possession lead for the Huskies, as his layup on the next possession boosted the team's lead to 52-49. St. Cloud State's defense then forced a Dakota Wesleyan turnover, allowing Marshall to score on a jumper to put the Huskies ahead 54-49.

It didn't take the Tigers long to threaten again, as they worked to cut the lead to 59-58, this time with eight minutes remaining on the scoreboard. This time, Ilya Tyrtyshnik (Kyiv, Ukraine / Kyiv Specialized School #49) came to St. Cloud State's rescue, as his layup boosted the Huskies lead back to three points at 61-58. The three-point lead wouldn't last long, though, as Dakota Wesleyan again pulled within one at 61-60.

That single point was the closed the Tigers would come to catching St. Cloud State in the remaining seven minutes of play. Every time Dakota Wesleyan threatened to retake the lead, the Huskies would answer with a basket of their own, eventually regaining a 70-62 advantage with five minutes remaining in regulation. At that point, the closest the Tigers would get to the lead was four points, as Tytyshnik's two free throws clinched the win at 75-71.

Marshall ended as the team's leading scorer, as he tallied a career-high 23 points in 37 minutes of play. Blatancic and Tyrtyshnik ended the game with 15 points each, while Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) led the way with a team-leading 10 points in the victory.

With the win, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 3-3, while head coach Matt Reimer pulls within one of the 100-win milestone. The Huskies will return to the court on Saturday, November 30, when they travel to Duluth, Minnesota to take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth to open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play.