SCSU Men’s Basketball Open 2023-24 Season with a Win in Kansas City

Friday, November 10

Kansas City, Mo.

3:00 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

1-0,0-0NSIC

Pittsburg State

0-1,0-0Mid-America Intercollegiate

St. Cloud St.

Pittsburg St.

SCSU Men’s Basketball Open 2023-24 Season with a Win in Kansas City

11/10/2023 11:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Trio of freshmen step up in first collegiate game to help Huskies to victory in season opener at the Central Region Challenge

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – St. Cloud State Men's Basketball (1-0, 0-0 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) opened its 2023-24 season in style with an exciting 80-73 victory over Pittsburg State (0-1, 0-0 Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) on Friday Afternoon at the historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

The young Huskies team was led by a trio of freshmen – Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia), Anish Ramlall (Rosemount, Minn.) and Vance Peiffer (Waukee, Iowa) who made a tremendous impact in their first collegiate game. After a solid first half, Morgan had a monstrous second half, erupting for 17 points on 6-8 shooting in just 11 minutes. He finished the game with 25 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench. Ramlall was the team's second leading scorer with 15 points and Peiffer contributed eight points and a team-leading ten rebounds.

The first half was back-and-forth, and the Huskies took a 32-29 lead into the break. In the second half the Huskies never trailed and held a lead as big as 15 points with 8:39 remaining in the game, but Pitt State was resilient and cut the deficit to just three with 1:33 left on the clock. Senior Matt Willert (Buffalo, Minn.) hit a three-pointer with 22 ticks remaining to pit the Huskies up 6 and all-but ice the game. Pitt State missed its next shot and SCSU closed the game making three of its last four free throws to close the game.

TOP HUSKIES

Morgan poured in 25 points in his first collegiate game and added six rebounds.
Ramlall was second on the team in scoring with 15 points on 6-10 shooting.
Peiffer recorded double-digit rebounds in his first collegiate game and also added eight points.
Graduate student Luke Taylor (Germantown, Wis.) and Willert each provided double digit points and four rebounds.

QUOTEABLES – St. Cloud State head coach Quincy Henderson

"It was a resilient effort by the group. They weathered some late game pushes by Pitt and executed down the stretch. We had some great production off the bench. It'll be a quick turnaround for Henderson State tomorrow. That same effort will have to be there."

NOTABLES

The Huskies are now 3-2 all-time against Pittsburg State.
SCSU led the game in field goals percentage (48.3%-43.1%), three-point percentage (45.0%-26.3%) field goals made (28-25), three pointers made (9-5), total rebounds (11-30—41 - 8-24--32), assists (12-6), points in the paint (36-32) and bench points (29-3).
PSU led the game in free throws percentage (72.0%-65.2%), free throws made (19-15), steals (5-2), blocks (3-0), points off turnovers (12-6), second chance points (12-7) and fast break points (8-7).
SCSU led the game for a total of 36 minutes including the last 26, holding leads as big as 15 in the second half.
Seven players [six freshman – Ramlall, Peiffer, Morgan, Jamiir Allen (Milwaukee, Wis.), Wyatt Hawks (White Bear Lake, Minn.), and Nate Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) and one transfer – Craig Steele (Portage, Wis.)] made their Huskies debut.
Morgan dominated in his Huskies debut, pouring in 25 points on 9-13 shooting from the field, 3-5 from behind the arc and a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line...tallied six rebounds...played 21 minutes off the bench.
Ramlall started his first collegiate game playing 28 minutes...second on the team in points (15) and was 6-10 from the field including 2-5 from three.
Senior Joe Mutimer (Melbourne, Australia) pulled down seven rebounds in his 29th start as a Husky.
Peiffer led the team in rebounds, pulling down double-digits (10) in his first collegiate game...started the game and played 24 minutes...added eight points.
Willert scored 10+ points for the 46th time in his career scoring 13 points on 4-9 shooting (3-4 from three)...added four rebounds.
Taylor scored double-digit points for the 25th time in his career scoring 12 points...added four rebounds.
Allen logged 14 minutes in his collegiate debut...chipped in three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Hawks played 13 minutes in his debut, recording two points and three rebounds.
Sophomore Andre Renta (Hudson, Wis.) played 8 minutes in the season debut.
Nate Dahl played 10 minutes in his collegiate debut scoring two points and dishing out two assists.
Redhsirt-sophomore Tony Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) played 5 minutes in the season debut.
Steele played three minutes in his debut for the Huskies.

UP NEXT

Like Coach Henderson alluded to, there is a short turnaround for SCSU before its next game. The Huskies play their second and final game of the weekend in the Central Region Challenge at the historical Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. against Henderson State (Ark.) tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. CT. Links live stats for the game can be found on the SCSU Men's Basketball page.

St. Cloud State Men's Basketball season tickets for the 2023-24 season are available. Fans can purchase season tickets by visiting scsuickets.com or by calling 1-877-SCSUTIX / 320-308-2137. The season ticket package includes tickets to 16 regular season home games played in Halenbeck Hall. Single game tickets are also available.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Men's Basketball, stay tuned to SCSUHuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.