St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Completes Gutsy Comeback on Senior Day

Saturday, February 17

St. Cloud, Minn.

5:30 P.M. CT

St. Cloud State

12-14,8-12NSIC

Sioux Falls

12-14,9-11NSIC

Sioux Falls

St. Cloud St.

Photo by: Justyce Porter

St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball Completes Gutsy Comeback on Senior Day

2/18/2024 1:12:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Huskies trailed by as many as 15, come back to win 70-68

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – St. Cloud State Men's Basketball (12-14 overall, 8-12 NSIC) trailed for 35:05 but made a furious late push to beat Sioux Falls, 70-68 on Saturday evening at Halenbeck Hall.

St. Cloud State opened the game on a 5-0 run in the first two minutes of play, prompting the Cougars to take an early timeout to reorganize. Sioux Falls took over the lead a minute and a half later and retained it for the remainder of the first half. USF's first half lead grew to 15 points, its biggest of the game, with just over three minutes to play in the first half. SCSU responded by ending the half on a 9-2 run to cut its deficit at the halftime break to nine.

The Huskies got to within five points of the Cougars on three different occasions in the first 15 minutes of the second half but was unable to get any closer. Then with just under four minutes left in the game, freshman Jamiir Allen (Milwaukee) knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the Cougar led to three. After a couple of scoreless possessions by both teams, freshman Lucas Morgan (Sydney, Australia) was sent to the line. He made both attempts and got the Huskies to within one.

USF's Shawn Warrior caught the ball out of bounds on the following possession giving the Huskies the ball back with 2:13 left and a chance to own the lead for the first time in over 35 minutes. Senior Matt Willert (Buffalo, Minn.) was unable to convert on a deep three pointer, but the rebound was fumbled out of bounds after being last touched by Sioux Falls, so the Huskies maintained the ball with 2:02 left. Willert missed another go-ahead shot attempt but yet again SCSU came up with a huge offensive rebound after freshman Wyatt Hawks (White Bear Lake, Minn.) tipped the ball out to freshman Anish Ramlall (Rosemount, Minn.) who secured it and set up the offense. Morgan posted up at the left elbow and made a strong drive at the basket. His defender tried to take a charge but there was no call and Morgan banked in the wide-open layup to give the Huskies their first lead since very early in the first half.

Sioux Falls called a timeout to draw up a play, trailing 66-65 with 1:17 left. Out of the timeout, Jack Thompson knocked down a catch and shoot three to retake the lead for the Cougars. On the next possession, Ramlall drove to the basket with the shot clock winding down and made a circus, up-and-under layup to knot the game at 68 with 40 seconds left. Out of another USF timeout, Ramlall played great defense on Thompson, forcing a miss to give the Huskies the ball back with 12 seconds and the chance to win the game. A Sioux Falls player was injured on the rebound but play continued as the Huskies played 5-on-4 on the other end. After great ball movement, two defenders collapsed on a driving Morgan who dumped it off to a wide-open Nate Dahl (Buffalo, Minn.) in the middle of the lane. Dahl made his floater attempt, and the Huskies retook the lead from USF.

An injury timeout was called, and the officials went to the monitor to see how much time should be put on the clock. Three and a half seconds were put on the clock and the Cougars were forced to go the length of the court. Kyle Ingwerson caught the ball and passed it to Thompson who got a good look at a game-winning three-pointer, but the shot did not fall, and the Huskies escaped Senior Day with an epic late-game comeback. SCSU only led for 3:24 and the Cougars led for 35:05.

TOP HUSKIES

Willert scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-13 from the field including 4-of-10 from three. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Graduate student Luke Taylor (Germantown, Wis.) scored 11 points. He was perfect from the field (3-of-3) and made five of his six free throw attempts.
Morgan stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the line, four assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
Hawks scored 10 points and grabbed a game-high six rebounds. He made 4-of-7 shots from the field and both of his free throws.
Nate Dahl scored the game winning basket with 3.4 seconds left.

NOTABLES

After the win, SCSU is now 14-6 all-time against Sioux Falls.
SCSU led the game in field goal percentage (42.1-40.7), free throw percentage (94.1-78.6), free throws (16-11), total rebounds (10-27—37 - 10-22—32), blocks (2-1), second chance points (13-11) and bench points (36-25).
Sioux Falls led in three-point percentage (36.0-33.3), three-pointers (9-6), assists (12-9), steals (5-4), points off turnovers (15-13) and points in the paint (26-24).
Both teams made 24 field goals and scored two fast break points.
Willert has scored 17+ points in three games this season, grabbed 5+ rebounds in nine and made 4+ three pointers in two. He currently sits at No. 31 on the all-time scoring list (1,178) and No. 9 on the all-time three-point makes list (194), No. 3 on the all-time free throw percentage list (86.1%) and No. 19 on the all-time blocks list (52).
Taylor set a new season high in free throws (five) and tied his season high in free throw attempts (six). Games will 11+ points this season: eight.
Morgan has scored 10+ points in 12 games, dished out 4+ assists in five, grabbed 3+ rebounds in 23 games (seven straight), blocked 2+ shots in three and recorded 1+ steal in 15 (three straight).
Hawks has posted 10+ points in 11 games this season (five out of the last seven) and grabbed 6+ rebounds in 13 (three straight).
Dahl scored four points and grabbed three rebounds. Games this season with 4+ points: 14 and 3+ rebounds: 14 (seven straight).
Allen recorded eight points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. His five rebounds tied his career high. Games with 8+ points: 19, 5+ rebounds: three, 2+ assists: 12 and 2+ steals: 13.

UP NEXT
The Huskies travel for their final two regular season games of the season. They head to Minnesota Duluth on Wednesday and Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday. Wednesday's game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. at the Romano Gymnasium in Duluth and Saturday's game starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul. Live coverage will be available on the NSIC Network and The Varsity Network with live stats being provided by each home institution. 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.