Friday, December 8
Aberdeen, S.D.
5:30 P.M. CT
St. Cloud State
at
Northern State
Photo by: Jason Soria
St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Readies for First Conference Road Trip
12/7/2023 5:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Huskies travel to play Northern State Friday, MSU Moorhead Saturday
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State Men's Basketball (4-2 overall, 1-1 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) makes its first conference road trip of the 2023-24 season this weekend. On Friday, the Huskies travel to play Northern State (3-5 overall, 1-1 NSIC) and on Saturday, the Huskies play MSU Moorhead (8-0 overall, 2-0 NSIC). Friday's game tips off at 5:30 p.m. CT at Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, S.D. and Saturday's game is set for 3:30 p.m. CT in Moorhead at Nemzek Fieldhouse.
FOLLOW THE HUSKIES
The games will be streamed live for free on the NSIC Network (Friday's Stream / Saturday's Stream) and broadcasted on the Varsity Network app. Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of St. Cloud State Basketball, can be heard on the audio broadcast. Live stats will be provided by the host institutions (NSU / MSUM). Links to each coverage option can be found on the St. Cloud State Men's Basketball schedule page.
LAST TIME OUT
St. Cloud State opened conference play last weekend with games against Minnesota Crookston and Minot State. On Friday against Minnesota Crookston, the Huskies surged out to an 8-0 lead after graduate student Luke Taylor (Germantown, Wis.) scored five points in the opening five minutes. The Huskies led by eight points multiple times in the first half, but the Eagles found their wings and ended the half on a 12-2 run including a go-ahead and-one layup with one second left in the half.
The Huskies found themselves flying coming out of the halftime, opening the half on a 15-0 run and turned what was a three-point halftime deficit into a 12-point lead. During that run, the duo of senior Joe Mutimer (Melbourne, Australia) and freshman Vance Peiffer (Waukee, Iowa) set up 11 of the 15 points including an and-one layup by Peiffer. Mutimer set up the play after he froze his defender with a hesitation dribble to get in the lane, drew in the weakside defender, and then dumped it down into Peiffer who made the layup and converted the three-point play. Peiffer splashed a three-pointer off another dime by Mutimer to cap off the 15-0 Huskies run. Peiffer finished the game scoring a career-high 10 points. St. Cloud led the rest of the game despite Crookston coming within one point of the Huskies. In the final 7:35 of the game, St. Cloud iced the game by making 10 of their 14 free throw attempts coming away with a 64-60 victory. Freshman Jamiir Allen (Milwaukee, Wis.) led the Huskies in scoring as he registered 12 points, three rebounds, two steals, and two made three pointers in 23 minutes off the bench. Freshman Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia) nearly notched his second career double-double as he recorded nine points, tied his career-high of 11 rebounds while setting a career-high of 10 defensive rebounds, and tallied three steals and two blocks.
Saturday's game against Minot State did not garner the same results for St. Cloud. The Huskies had another strong start to the game as they took a 10-3 lead early in the first half. Taylor also had another strong start as he scored nine of his 13 points in the opening half including six consecutive points for St. Cloud State to give it a 16-12 lead. An 18-5 run by Minot gave them a seven-point lead with 5:05 left in the 1st half, but back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Anish Ramlall (Rosemount, Minn.) and senior Matt Willert (Buffalo, Minn.) quickly cut that lead back to one. The rest of the half went back and forth, but the Huskies headed into halftime trailing by one point after Allen made a buzzer beating right-handed layup as time expired.
Coming out of the break, St. Cloud used a 7-3 run to capture a three-point lead with five of those points coming from Morgan. The game continued to go back and forth until the 5:05 mark when the Beavers embarked on a 16-2 to put away the Huskies. Allen cashed in a jumper with 3:01 to bring the Huskies within four points, but St. Cloud could not get over the dam and went scoreless the remainder of the game. Minot State came away with an 85-70 victory to give St. Cloud its first conference loss on the season.
Highlights from both games can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
SERIES HISTORY
St. Cloud travels to Northern State where they hold a 33-24 all-time advantage. Despite the advantage, the Huskies have lost three straight games to the Wolves and 10 of their last 12 meetings, including both matchups last year. In the first matchup, St. Cloud struggled shooting the ball as they were held to 35.3% from the field en route to a 65-83 loss. Redshirt sophomore Tony Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) led the Huskies in scoring with 15 points while draining four of his nine three-point attempts in 20 minutes off the bench. Joe Mutimer dished out a career-high nine assists to go along with four points, four rebounds, and one steal. Matt Willert also recorded 12 points for the Huskies. The second matchup later in the season held a similar result for the Huskies as they suffered another 18-point loss when they fell 79-61. St. Cloud struggled shooting the ball, being held to 32.9% from the field and 22.2% from beyond the arc. Luke Taylor led the Huskies with a 22-point 10 rebound double-double. Willert scored on double figures again, recording 14 points with four three pointers.
Saturday's matchup with Minnesota State Moorhead will be the 139th meeting between the programs with St. Cloud holding an 85-53 advantage in the series. St. Cloud has lost the past seven games to MSUM including two losses last year. At Halenbeck Hall, St. Cloud fell 86-72. The Huskies came out flat in the first half shooting 29.0% from the field in the first half but found themselves down eight points at halftime. St. Cloud heated up in the second half, doubling its output by shooting 58.62% from the field, but the Dragons were just as hot, shooting 54.84% in route to a 55-point second half scoring surge. Willert scored a team-high 20 points on 50% shooting while also grabbing five rebounds. The second matchup also resulted in a double-digit loss with MSU Moorhead coming out on top with an 83-68 victory. St. Cloud got pounded on the glass as Moorhead held a 40-29 rebounding advantage. 15 of those rebounds for Moorhead came on the offensive side which created 21 second chance points for the Dragons. MSUM took 11 more shots than St. Cloud taking advantage of its second chance opportunities. Taylor dropped 20 points in the game along with four assists and three rebounds. Willert chiped in 13 points in 30 minutes of play and Mutimer scored 10 points off the bench.
SCOUTING NORTHERN STATE
Northern State comes into this matchup posting a 3-5 record overall including a 1-1 conference record. The Wolves are riding high as they have won three of their past four games with the lone loss coming against MSU Moorhead in their last outing. Northern is led their two juniors: Jacksen Moni and Josh Dilling. Moni leads the Wolves in scoring at 19.1 points per game on shooting percentages of 42.9% from the field, 32% from three, and 87.5% from the free throw line. Moni also leads the team in rebounding with 6.1 per game and dishes out three assists per game which is the second highest mark on the team. In the last outing against Moorhead, Moni poured in a team-high 24 points. Dilling is right behind Moni in scoring with 19 points per game on at an extremely efficient rate. From the field, Dilling shoots 55.2%, 52.4% from three-point range, and 73.7% from the free throw line. Dilling has shot upwards of 50% from the field in six of his eight games played this season including 21 points against Moorhead. Dilling has also been scorching hot from deep as he has made three or more threes in four of his past five games. Dilling leads the team in assists per game with 4.1 and is third on the team in rebounding with 4.4 per game. The NSIC awarded Dilling Player of the Week last week for his efforts.
In the first game against St. Cloud last season, Moni scored 14 points which was good for the second highest mark on the team. Moni also grabbed five rebounds and recorded a block and a steal. Dilling only played 19 minutes but was held to four points. The second matchup saw Moni score 15 points on seven of 11 shooting. Dilling played 34 minutes this and again was kept in check as he scored 2 points on 1-of-10 shooting but impacted the game elsewhere by grabbing seven rebounds and recording a team-high six assists.
Saul Phillips enters his fifth season at the helm of the program and has posted a record of 92-32. Phillips and his teams have not won less than 19 games in his tenure at Northern State. The NSIC awarded Phillips Coach of the Year honors last year as the Wolves posted a 24-7 record and Phillips surpassed the 300-career win mark. Phillips first started his career at North Dakota State in 2007 and captured 134 wins in his seven years. Ohio University sought after Phillips and hired him in 2014. Phillips put together an 81-77 record before coming to Northern State in 2019.
SCOUTING MSU MOORHEAD
The Dragons have started the season blazing hot with an immaculate record of 8-0 with two conference victories. Dating back to last season, MSU Moorhead has won 15 of its past 18 games including the NSIC Championship over Minnesota Duluth. The Dragons are led by their backcourt this year. Junior Jacob Beeninga scores 21.4 points per game on 44.2% from the field, 38.6% from three-point range, and 82.7% from the free throw line. Beeninga was an All-Conference honoree last season. Jamir Price is the other member of the star-studded backcourt with averages of 14.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. Price has been on a tear lately as he was named to the NSIC Shining 5 last week after averaging 18 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while shooting 82.3% from the field. In the paint, forward Dane Zimmer nearly averages a double-double with 11.1 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game. Zimmer also leads the Dragons in field goal percentage with 62.7%.
In the first matchup against the Huskies in 2022-23, Beeninga recorded 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting along with five rebounds, three assist, and three steals. Zimmer notched a 14-point 11 rebound double-double in 35 minutes of play. Zimmer also posted three assists, two blocks, and a steal in the Dragons 14-point victory. The second matchup saw Beeninga struggle from the floor as he recorded 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Zimmer nearly put up a second double-double against the Huskies as he scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Tim Bergstraser, a native of St. Cloud and a former player of the program, heads into his second season with the program. Bergstraser's first season with Moorhead went as well as it possibly could have. The Dragons went 25-7 on the year and won their second consecutive NSIC Championship. Prior to becoming the head coach, Bergstraser had served as one of the top assistants for Moorhead for four seasons and was a graduate assistant for the two seasons prior to that. Bergstraser was awarded the NABC Under Armour 30-Under-30 award in 2017.
MSU Moorhead will host Bemidji State on Friday before playing St. Cloud on Saturday.
SHINING STAR
St. Cloud State freshman Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia) was named to the NSIC Men's Basketball Shining 5 by the league office on Nov. 11 for his efforts in his first two collegiate games. He averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in just 24.5 minutes per game during the 2-0 weekend for the Huskies in Kansas City. He shot 68.4% (13-of-19) from the field and 57.1% (4-of-7) from behind the three-point line over the weekend. In his collegiate debut on Friday, he erupted for 25 points and grabbed six rebounds in an 80-73 win over Pittsburg State. In just his second collegiate game ever, he recorded his first career double-double (10 points and 11 rebounds) in a 74-64 win over Henderson State.
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.
FOLLOW THE HUSKIES
The games will be streamed live for free on the NSIC Network (Friday's Stream / Saturday's Stream) and broadcasted on the Varsity Network app. Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of St. Cloud State Basketball, can be heard on the audio broadcast. Live stats will be provided by the host institutions (NSU / MSUM). Links to each coverage option can be found on the St. Cloud State Men's Basketball schedule page.
LAST TIME OUT
St. Cloud State opened conference play last weekend with games against Minnesota Crookston and Minot State. On Friday against Minnesota Crookston, the Huskies surged out to an 8-0 lead after graduate student Luke Taylor (Germantown, Wis.) scored five points in the opening five minutes. The Huskies led by eight points multiple times in the first half, but the Eagles found their wings and ended the half on a 12-2 run including a go-ahead and-one layup with one second left in the half.
The Huskies found themselves flying coming out of the halftime, opening the half on a 15-0 run and turned what was a three-point halftime deficit into a 12-point lead. During that run, the duo of senior Joe Mutimer (Melbourne, Australia) and freshman Vance Peiffer (Waukee, Iowa) set up 11 of the 15 points including an and-one layup by Peiffer. Mutimer set up the play after he froze his defender with a hesitation dribble to get in the lane, drew in the weakside defender, and then dumped it down into Peiffer who made the layup and converted the three-point play. Peiffer splashed a three-pointer off another dime by Mutimer to cap off the 15-0 Huskies run. Peiffer finished the game scoring a career-high 10 points. St. Cloud led the rest of the game despite Crookston coming within one point of the Huskies. In the final 7:35 of the game, St. Cloud iced the game by making 10 of their 14 free throw attempts coming away with a 64-60 victory. Freshman Jamiir Allen (Milwaukee, Wis.) led the Huskies in scoring as he registered 12 points, three rebounds, two steals, and two made three pointers in 23 minutes off the bench. Freshman Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia) nearly notched his second career double-double as he recorded nine points, tied his career-high of 11 rebounds while setting a career-high of 10 defensive rebounds, and tallied three steals and two blocks.
Saturday's game against Minot State did not garner the same results for St. Cloud. The Huskies had another strong start to the game as they took a 10-3 lead early in the first half. Taylor also had another strong start as he scored nine of his 13 points in the opening half including six consecutive points for St. Cloud State to give it a 16-12 lead. An 18-5 run by Minot gave them a seven-point lead with 5:05 left in the 1st half, but back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Anish Ramlall (Rosemount, Minn.) and senior Matt Willert (Buffalo, Minn.) quickly cut that lead back to one. The rest of the half went back and forth, but the Huskies headed into halftime trailing by one point after Allen made a buzzer beating right-handed layup as time expired.
Coming out of the break, St. Cloud used a 7-3 run to capture a three-point lead with five of those points coming from Morgan. The game continued to go back and forth until the 5:05 mark when the Beavers embarked on a 16-2 to put away the Huskies. Allen cashed in a jumper with 3:01 to bring the Huskies within four points, but St. Cloud could not get over the dam and went scoreless the remainder of the game. Minot State came away with an 85-70 victory to give St. Cloud its first conference loss on the season.
Highlights from both games can be found on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
SERIES HISTORY
St. Cloud travels to Northern State where they hold a 33-24 all-time advantage. Despite the advantage, the Huskies have lost three straight games to the Wolves and 10 of their last 12 meetings, including both matchups last year. In the first matchup, St. Cloud struggled shooting the ball as they were held to 35.3% from the field en route to a 65-83 loss. Redshirt sophomore Tony Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) led the Huskies in scoring with 15 points while draining four of his nine three-point attempts in 20 minutes off the bench. Joe Mutimer dished out a career-high nine assists to go along with four points, four rebounds, and one steal. Matt Willert also recorded 12 points for the Huskies. The second matchup later in the season held a similar result for the Huskies as they suffered another 18-point loss when they fell 79-61. St. Cloud struggled shooting the ball, being held to 32.9% from the field and 22.2% from beyond the arc. Luke Taylor led the Huskies with a 22-point 10 rebound double-double. Willert scored on double figures again, recording 14 points with four three pointers.
Saturday's matchup with Minnesota State Moorhead will be the 139th meeting between the programs with St. Cloud holding an 85-53 advantage in the series. St. Cloud has lost the past seven games to MSUM including two losses last year. At Halenbeck Hall, St. Cloud fell 86-72. The Huskies came out flat in the first half shooting 29.0% from the field in the first half but found themselves down eight points at halftime. St. Cloud heated up in the second half, doubling its output by shooting 58.62% from the field, but the Dragons were just as hot, shooting 54.84% in route to a 55-point second half scoring surge. Willert scored a team-high 20 points on 50% shooting while also grabbing five rebounds. The second matchup also resulted in a double-digit loss with MSU Moorhead coming out on top with an 83-68 victory. St. Cloud got pounded on the glass as Moorhead held a 40-29 rebounding advantage. 15 of those rebounds for Moorhead came on the offensive side which created 21 second chance points for the Dragons. MSUM took 11 more shots than St. Cloud taking advantage of its second chance opportunities. Taylor dropped 20 points in the game along with four assists and three rebounds. Willert chiped in 13 points in 30 minutes of play and Mutimer scored 10 points off the bench.
SCOUTING NORTHERN STATE
Northern State comes into this matchup posting a 3-5 record overall including a 1-1 conference record. The Wolves are riding high as they have won three of their past four games with the lone loss coming against MSU Moorhead in their last outing. Northern is led their two juniors: Jacksen Moni and Josh Dilling. Moni leads the Wolves in scoring at 19.1 points per game on shooting percentages of 42.9% from the field, 32% from three, and 87.5% from the free throw line. Moni also leads the team in rebounding with 6.1 per game and dishes out three assists per game which is the second highest mark on the team. In the last outing against Moorhead, Moni poured in a team-high 24 points. Dilling is right behind Moni in scoring with 19 points per game on at an extremely efficient rate. From the field, Dilling shoots 55.2%, 52.4% from three-point range, and 73.7% from the free throw line. Dilling has shot upwards of 50% from the field in six of his eight games played this season including 21 points against Moorhead. Dilling has also been scorching hot from deep as he has made three or more threes in four of his past five games. Dilling leads the team in assists per game with 4.1 and is third on the team in rebounding with 4.4 per game. The NSIC awarded Dilling Player of the Week last week for his efforts.
In the first game against St. Cloud last season, Moni scored 14 points which was good for the second highest mark on the team. Moni also grabbed five rebounds and recorded a block and a steal. Dilling only played 19 minutes but was held to four points. The second matchup saw Moni score 15 points on seven of 11 shooting. Dilling played 34 minutes this and again was kept in check as he scored 2 points on 1-of-10 shooting but impacted the game elsewhere by grabbing seven rebounds and recording a team-high six assists.
Saul Phillips enters his fifth season at the helm of the program and has posted a record of 92-32. Phillips and his teams have not won less than 19 games in his tenure at Northern State. The NSIC awarded Phillips Coach of the Year honors last year as the Wolves posted a 24-7 record and Phillips surpassed the 300-career win mark. Phillips first started his career at North Dakota State in 2007 and captured 134 wins in his seven years. Ohio University sought after Phillips and hired him in 2014. Phillips put together an 81-77 record before coming to Northern State in 2019.
SCOUTING MSU MOORHEAD
The Dragons have started the season blazing hot with an immaculate record of 8-0 with two conference victories. Dating back to last season, MSU Moorhead has won 15 of its past 18 games including the NSIC Championship over Minnesota Duluth. The Dragons are led by their backcourt this year. Junior Jacob Beeninga scores 21.4 points per game on 44.2% from the field, 38.6% from three-point range, and 82.7% from the free throw line. Beeninga was an All-Conference honoree last season. Jamir Price is the other member of the star-studded backcourt with averages of 14.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. Price has been on a tear lately as he was named to the NSIC Shining 5 last week after averaging 18 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists while shooting 82.3% from the field. In the paint, forward Dane Zimmer nearly averages a double-double with 11.1 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game. Zimmer also leads the Dragons in field goal percentage with 62.7%.
In the first matchup against the Huskies in 2022-23, Beeninga recorded 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting along with five rebounds, three assist, and three steals. Zimmer notched a 14-point 11 rebound double-double in 35 minutes of play. Zimmer also posted three assists, two blocks, and a steal in the Dragons 14-point victory. The second matchup saw Beeninga struggle from the floor as he recorded 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. Zimmer nearly put up a second double-double against the Huskies as he scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
Tim Bergstraser, a native of St. Cloud and a former player of the program, heads into his second season with the program. Bergstraser's first season with Moorhead went as well as it possibly could have. The Dragons went 25-7 on the year and won their second consecutive NSIC Championship. Prior to becoming the head coach, Bergstraser had served as one of the top assistants for Moorhead for four seasons and was a graduate assistant for the two seasons prior to that. Bergstraser was awarded the NABC Under Armour 30-Under-30 award in 2017.
MSU Moorhead will host Bemidji State on Friday before playing St. Cloud on Saturday.
SHINING STAR
St. Cloud State freshman Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia) was named to the NSIC Men's Basketball Shining 5 by the league office on Nov. 11 for his efforts in his first two collegiate games. He averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in just 24.5 minutes per game during the 2-0 weekend for the Huskies in Kansas City. He shot 68.4% (13-of-19) from the field and 57.1% (4-of-7) from behind the three-point line over the weekend. In his collegiate debut on Friday, he erupted for 25 points and grabbed six rebounds in an 80-73 win over Pittsburg State. In just his second collegiate game ever, he recorded his first career double-double (10 points and 11 rebounds) in a 74-64 win over Henderson State.
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.
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