St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Travels to Kansas City for Central Region Challenge

St. Cloud, Minn.- St. Cloud State Men's Basketball (1-1) continue their nonconference schedule as they travel to Kansas City, MO. for the Central Region Challenge. The Huskies are set to play Central Missouri on Saturday, November 9 and then Pittsburg State on Sunday, November 10. Saturday's game is slated for 1:00 p.m. while Sunday's game is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

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Live stats will be provided both games by Pittsburg State. The full tournament schedule can be found here.

Last Time Out
St. Cloud State opened their season this past weekend as they traveled to Canyon, Texas for the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic where they faced-off against Lubbock Christian University and Missouri Western State.

Saturday's game against Lubbock Christian saw the teams battle back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the half before the Huskies pulled away with an illustrious 17-2 over the final 7:53 of the first half to lead 40-22 at the break. St. Cloud State got it done on both ends in the first half as they limited the Chaps to a mere 29% from the field and 18% from three. Offensively, the Huskies were on fire as they 53% from the field and 54% from beyond the arc. While LCU turned up their intensity in the second half, the Chaps could never get closer than 13 points of the Huskies. St. Cloud State countered every run that Lubbock Christian threw their way with a run of their own. The Huskies would go on to earn their first victory of the season with a 69-56 win.

Freshman Kynan Philippe shined in his Huskies debut as he scored a team-high 15 points while shooting 6/11 from the field and 3/7 from three. Philippe also tallied seven rebounds, three assists, and a steal. Jamiir Allen was solid all around with 14 points on 6/9 shooting and made two of his three three-point attempts. Allen also dished three assists and grabbed two rebounds.

Sunday's game against Missouri Western was tightly contested in the first half as the Griffons held a 21-20 lead with 7:50 left in the first half. MWSU ended the half on a 17-6 run as they took a 38-26 lead at halftime. The Griffons carried over their momentum from the first half into the second half as they expanded their lead early in the second half to 20 points. The Huskies clawed their way back into the game throughout the second half as they only trailed by four points after a three-pointer by Jamiir Allen with 2:38 left in the game. St. Cloud State was unable to get any closer as Missouri Western closed out the game by making eight of their final 10 free throws attempts as they handed St. Cloud State their first loss of the season.

Nate Dahl led the Huskies in scoring with 15 points. Dahl shot 3/6 from the field and made all eight of his free throw attempts while tallying two rebounds, assists, and steals. Jamiir Allen scored 14 points for the second consecutive game as he shot 5/10 from the field and made three of his six three-point attempts. Allen also nabbed a career-high four steals while dishing two assists.

All-Tournament Selection
Following the conclusion of the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic, sophomore Jamiir Allen was named to the All-Tournament team. Allen averaged 14 points per game while shooting 57.9% from the field and 55.6% from three while making five three-pointers. He also tallied 2.5 assists and steals while grabbing 1.5 rebounds per game.

Series History
Saturday's game against Central Missouri will be the first meeting between the two teams.

Sunday's game against Pittsburg State will be the fifth meeting between the two teams with their series tied 2-2. The programs played last season with the Huskies capturing a win.

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. Then senior Matt Willert 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. The trio of Lucas Morgan, Anish Ramlall, and Vance Peiffer all shined in their first collegiate games. 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.

Scouting Central Missouri
The Central Missouri Mules are set to open their season in the Central Region Challenge with their first game coming against NSIC foe Bemidji State. The Mules enter this season coming off a 2023-24 campaign where they tallied a 13-15 record with an 8-14 record in conference play.

Central Missouri returns two of their top three scorers from last season in Jalen Knott and Tim Jordan Jr. Knott was the teams second leading scorer with an 11.6 points per game average while shooting 36.3% from the field, 31.6% from three, and 73.4% from the free throw line. He also averaged four rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. Jordan Jr. was right behind Knott with an 11.5 points per game average on 48.5% from the field, 39.3% from three and 78.9% from the line. He also tallied 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

Head coach Adam Bohac enters his second season with Central Missouri ahead of the 2024-25 season. Last year, Bohac and the Mules totaled a 13-15 campaign. Bohac had previously spent 15 seasons with Southern Nazarene University.

Scouting Pittsburg State
The Pittsburg State Gorilla's will open their season by playing NSIC foe Winona State on Saturday before playing the Huskies on Sunday. The Gorilla's are coming off a strong 2023-24 campaign where they went 21-11 with a 15-7 record in conference play. PSU lost to Northwest Missouri in the MIAA Championship and qualified for the NCAA Regional Tournament. The Gorilla's faced off against Minnesota State Moorhead and were defeated 55-73, ending their season.

Last season, the Gorilla's rostered four players that averaged in double figures, but this year only one of them returned. Sophomore Jordan Frison averaged the fourth most points on the team with an 11.6 per game average while shooting 46.5% from the field, 33.3% from three, and 76.2% from the free throw line. Frison also averaged 4.4 rebounds and team-high's of 5.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game.

Head coach Jeff Boschee enters his third season with Pittsburg State ahead of the 2024-25 season. Boschee has tallied a 29-31 record in his two seasons. Prior to Pittsburg State, he was the head coach of Missouri Southern State University for eight seasons were he compiled a 151-86 record.

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.

St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Travels to Kansas City for Central Region Challenge

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Players Mentioned

Nate Dahl

Lucas Morgan

Vance Peiffer

Kynan Philippe

Anish Ramlall

Matt Willert

Saint Cloud State University Athletics