St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Earns Home Victory After Big Second Half

Friday, January 19

St. Cloud, Minn.

7:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

8-9,4-7NSIC

Wayne State

11-8,4-8NSIC

Wayne St. (NE)

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Jacob Sanders

St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Earns Home Victory After Big Second Half

1/20/2024 1:50:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Huskies score 52 second half points in 79-61 win over Wayne State

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State Men's Basketball (8-9 overall, 4-7 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) used an explosive second half to take down Wayne State (11-8, 4-8 NSIC), 79-61 on Friday evening at Halenbeck Hall.

A three-pointer from senior Joe Mutimer (Melbourne, Australia) gave the Huskies a 3-0 lead, but back-to-back Wildcat buckets gave Wayne State the lead. WSC would not concede the lead again until freshman Anish Ramlall (Rosemount, Minn.) knocked down a three pointer with 34 seconds left in the first half to put the Huskies up one. SCSU gave up a layup with three seconds remaining and went into the break down 27-28. The Huskies offensive efforts were held in check and shot just 34.4% (11-of-32) from the field and 18.8% (3-of-16) from beyond the arc, despite getting quality looks all half. Wayne State shot 50% (12-of-24) from the field and 60% (3-of-5) from three.

The Huskies went down by five points just a minute into the second half after WSC converted on two layups. SCSU battled back and after they took a 37-35 lead at the 16:01 mark, they never trailed in the game again and led by 10+ points during the final 9:21. The Huskies shot an incredible 72% (18-of-25) from the field including 66.7% (6-of-9) from three. SCSU also knocked down 83.3% (10-of-12) of its free throws in the final 20 minutes. 23 of the Huskies second half points came from the bench, including 11 from freshman Jamiir Allen (Milwaukee, Wis.), six from Senior Matt Willert (Buffalo, Minn.) and six from freshman Wyatt Hawks (White Bear Lake, Minn.).

TOP HUSKIES

Ramlall scored a team-high 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, dished out five assists, grabbed three rebounds and recorded two steals.
Freshman Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia) scored 12 points including 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from the charity stripe. He also dished out five assists, grabbed four rebounds and tallied two steals.
Allen scored all 11 of his points in the second half.

NOTABLES

After the win, the Huskies are now 26-7 all-time against Wayne State.
SCSU led the game in field goal percentage (50.9%-48.1%), free-throw percentage (75.0%-60.0%), field goals (29-26), three pointers (9-6), free throws (12-3), total rebounds (6-25—31 – 4-26—30), assists (20-7), steals (10-4), points off turnovers (14-6), points in the paint (38-28), and bench points (32-11).
WSC led the game in three-point percentage (42.9%-36.0%), blocks (5-2) and second chance points (6-4)
Both teams scored two fast break points.
The team recorded a season-high 10 steals.
Ramlall set a new career-high of five assists. He has scored 11+ points in nine games including five of the last six. Fifth game with 4+ assists this season. Eighth game with 3+ rebounds. 10^th game with 2+ three pointers.
Morgan set a new career-high of five assists. He has scored 8+ points in 13 games and has grabbed 4+ rebounds in 15 games. Sixth game with multiple steals.
Allen took a caree-high six three pointers. He has scored 11+ points in nine games this season including the last eight in a row. He has scored 7+ points in 13 games.
Graduate student Luke Taylor (Germantown, Wis.) scored nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and grabbed five rebounds. He has scored 6+ points in all but one game he has played in this year and 8+ in all but two. Sixth game with 5+ rebounds.
Hawks scored eight points on three of four shooting from the field and grabbed six rebounds in a career-high 20 minutes. He has scored 8+ points in seven games and six of the last eight games. He has grabbed 6+ rebounds in seven games including five of the last seven.
Freshman Vance Peiffer (Waukee, Iowa) scored six points, grabbed five rebounds and recorded his first collegiate steal. He has scored 5+ points in his last eight games and in 10 of the 12 games he has played in. He has grabbed 5+ rebounds in seven games.
Senior Joe Mutimer (Melbourne, Australia) scored five points, tied his season-high dishing out five assists and grabbed three rebounds. He has scored 5+ points in 10 games this year. He has tallied five assists in three games. He has grabbed 3+ rebounds in five games.
Senior Matt Willert (Buffalo, Minn.) scored six points. He has scored 6+ points in 12 games this season including the last six in a row.
Freshman Nate Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) recorded a career-high two steals in addition to four points in 16 minutes of action off the bench.
Redshirt sophomore Tony Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) played a season-high 17 minutes.

UP NEXT
The Huskies close their four game homestand tomorrow against Augustana. The game will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud. Live coverage will be available on the NSIC Network and The Varsity Network with live stats being provided by SCSU. Links to each coverage option will be available on the SCSU Men's Basketball schedule page.

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.