Last second shot downs Huskies in 80-78 loss

Saturday, January 25

Moorhead, MN

5:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

10-10,7-7NSIC

Minnesota State University Moorhead

12-8,8-6NSIC

St. Cloud St.

MSU Moorhead

Trevon Marshall returned to his scoring ways, tallying 25 points against MSU-Moorhead Saturday.

Photo by: Kylie Macziewski

1/25/2020 7:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MOORHEAD, MINN. – It looked like the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team might finally break the curse that's plagued them all season long. The Huskies have been winless on Saturday's the second half of the season, but it looked like that unfortunate streak might come to an end in Saturday's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) game at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Sadly, a win was not in the cards for St. Cloud State, as the team fell to MSU-Moorhead 80-78 on a last second shot by the host.

The Huskies entered the locker room with a 43-39 lead at the half thanks to double-digits performances from Anthony Roberts (Chicago, Ill. / Oak Park) and Trevon Marshall (Evanston, Ill. / Evanston Township). Roberts continued his impressive weekend by scoring 13 points for St. Cloud State in the first half on 6-7 shooting while Marshall got back on track with a 12-point first half performance. The Huskies also took care of the ball in the opening 20 minutes of play, committing just four turnovers while forcing the Dragons to commit five.

Unfortunately, St. Cloud State lost favor with the basketball gods in the second half of the game, as MSU-Moorhead closed a 10-point gap to take a 68-66 lead with seven minutes remaining in the game. The Huskies managed to keep things close, pulling ahead 76-70 on back-to-back threes by Ilya Tyrtyshnik (Kyiv, Ukraine / Kyiv Specialized School #49). Still, fouls proved to be an issue for St. Cloud State, as the team was forced to play the majority of the second half without starter Caleb Donaldson (Bloomington, Ill. / Bloomington), as he was called for his fourth foul midway through the final half. Then, with under four minutes remaining in regulation, both Marshall and Oliver Ehrnvall (Uppsala, Sweden / Manhattan) were called for the fourth fouls, forcing head coach Matt Reimer to make a decision: play without his top scorer or risk losing him for a potential overtime situation.

Reimer left Marshall in, and the Huskies jumped to a 78-74 lead with 1:45 remaining in regulation. Still, St. Cloud State seemingly had no answer for MSU-Moorhead's length, as the home team answered the Huskies shot for shot, eventually tying things up at 78-78 with one minute left in the game. With exactly 10 seconds on the clock, the Dragons came up with a big offensive rebound, giving them the ball and the final possession of the game. With one second left, it seemed like things might in fact work out for St. Cloud State, as Kaedrick Williams missed a layup under the basket. However, the lengthy forward tipped in his own rebound, giving MSU-Moorhead an 80-78 lead with 1.7 remaining on the clock.

The Huskies called timeout and looked to Diamond Onwuka (Barcelona, Spain / Canarias Basketball Academy) to throw off the Dragons. Unfortunately, Onwuka's pass to Tyrtyshnik was intercepted by MSU-Moorhead, resulting in the 80-78 defeat.

Marshall ended the game as the team's leading scorer, tallying 25 points with three rebounds and seven assists, while Roberts concluded the game with 19 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.

With the loss, St. Cloud State's overall record falls to 10-10 and the team is 7-7 in NSIC play. The Huskies will return to action on Friday, January 31 when they take on Upper Iowa University at 7:30 p.m. in Fayette, Iowa.