Men's basketball wraps up regular season with home-and-home series

ST. CLOUD, MINN. - It all comes down to this for the St. Cloud State University men's basketball team. After four months of play, the Huskies will look to secure their spot in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) / Sanford Health Tournament in this weekend's home and home series against Minnesota-Crookston and Bemidji State.

St. Cloud State will host the Golden Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 17 before hitting the road for the final game of the regular season. That game will take place in Bemidji, Minnesota, as the Huskies face the Beavers at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 19. A win against Minnesota-Crookston will guarantee St. Cloud State's place in the NSIC tournament, where the Huskies will face the No. 3 seed from the South Division on Wednesday, February 23.

Live stats and video will be available for both games this weekend, and fans can tune in to a live radio broadcast on the Varsity Network App. Score updates will be made to the team's official Twitter account (@SCSUHUSKIES_MBB).

Here are the five things to know before this weekend's NSIC finale:

10 - With a win over the Golden Eagles on Thursday, St. Cloud State will maintain its streak of NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament appearances. The Huskies have qualified for the conference tournament for the past nine seasons and look to make it 10 straight in 2021-22. Unlike past seasons, the format of the NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament changed this past season. In the past, all 16 teams played in the first round of the conference tournament, hosted by the high seed. This year, only 12 teams qualify for the NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament, with the top two seeds in each division earning bids and advancing straight to the quarterfinal round.

6 - St. Cloud State enters Thursday's contest at Minnesota-Crookston riding a six-game win streak against the Golden Eagles, including an 82-50 road win earlier this season. In fact, the Huskies last loss to Minnesota-Crookston came on January 4, 2019, when the Golden Eagles upset St. Cloud State 76-57 in Crookston, Minnesota. Current senior Daniel Geistler (Norwalk, Iowa / Norwalk) is the lone Husky remaining from that 2018-19 team, and assistant coach Trevon Marshall was also a member of the squad.

.457 - St. Cloud State shot .457 from the floor in that early season victory over Minnesota-Crookston, as Anthony Roberts (Chicago, Ill. / Oak Park) and Matthew Willert (Buffalo, Minn. / Buffalo) each shot .500 from the floor. The duo led the Huskies in scoring with a combined 37 points, while Willert pulled in a then career-high nine rebounds in the victory.

83 - The game against Bemidji State did not go as well. Despite scoring 83 points offensively, St. Cloud State fell to the Beavers by a final score of 97-83. Derek Thompson used his length and size inside to score 33 points on the Huskies, while all five St. Cloud State starters scored in double-digits in the loss.

21.0 - Since scoring just seven points against Wayne State on January 21, Caleb Donaldson (Bloomington, Ill. / Bloomington) has been the offensive spark plug for the Huskies. The junior guard has averaged 21.0 points over the last seven games and scored 20+ points in four of those contests. In fact, Donaldson's lowest point total in the seven game stretch was the 18 he scored against Sioux Falls on January 28.