Basketball - Men's - News

BULLDOGS LET FIRST HALF LEAD SLIP AWAY; FALL TO HUSKIES 72-59

Friday, February 6, 2009

Less than a month ago at Romano Gymnasium, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team knocked off St. Cloud State University 75-64 to take over the lead in the always-tough Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

But Monday night in St. Cloud, things didn't go so smoothly for head Gary Holquist and his Bulldogs, who are now in a tie for fifth place in the NSIC.

In the always-entertaining clash between the two schools, the host Huskies used their hard-nosed defense, mixed with an array of clutch free-throws to cruise past UMD 72-59 in front of a packed house of nearly 4,000 fans at Halenbeck Hall.

St. Cloud State (15-6 overall; 10-4 NSIC) started the game off quickly by tallying 16 of the first 22 points, but an eye-popping 21-8 run guided the Bulldogs (15-9; 9-5) back, as they ran off to the locker rooms with an impressive 27-24 advantage at recess.

After the break, the Huskies knotted the game up at 34-34 within the first four minutes, as they eventually jumped out to a 49-39 advantage with roughly eight minutes left on the clock. UMD then chipped into the deficit, as they cut it down to four with less than three minutes left; however, St. Cloud State knocked down all 12 of their shots from the charity stripe to put the game well out of reach for the Bulldogs.

UMD was guided by their trio of captains, as senior center John Vaudreuil, senior guard Steve Klass and junior forward Brian Sykora all poured in 15 points for the Maroon and Gold in the difficult conference loss.

Other than his scoring, Sykora did a solid job on the glass, as the Bulldogs leading-scorer and rebounder ripped down a game-high 16 rebounds - eight more than any player on the floor - while the Bloomington, Minn. native nailed 43 percent (6-for-14) of his shots from the field and missed just one free-throw to add to his double-double in his game-leading 35 minutes on the hardwood.

Sykora's fellow big man on the blocks, Vaudreuil, also had a stellar performance on the court for UMD, as he grabbed four rebounds, handed out a pair of assists and drained 42 percent (5-for-12) of his attempts from the field, while Klass was red hot, shooting a game-leading 83 percent (5-for-6) from the floor and 75 percent (3-for-4) from behind arc for UMD. Klass also added four rebounds, two helpers and didn't miss a single free-throw on the night in the loss.

After the final whistle, the Bulldogs - who out-rebounded and committed fewer turnovers than the Huskies - shot 58 percent (11-for-16) from the charity stripe, 40 percent (4-for-10) from downtown and 39 percent (22-for-56) from the field, but it wasn't enough to nip St. Cloud State.

UMD will now travel to Concordia University-St. Paul and look to get back on the winning track, as they will clash with the Golden Bears (10-11; 8-6) in NSIC action on Saturday (Feb. 7) at 8:00 p.m.

Game Stats

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