The University of Minnesota Duluth men's basketball team traveled to St. Cloud, Minn. this afternoon to take on St. Cloud State University, shutting down the Huskie offense to take home a 75-66 win in their lone Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) matchup of the weekend.
Halftime: UMD (30) - SCSU (27)
The Bulldogs started off the afternoon with some energy, knocking in buckets on their first two possessions of the game and going up 4-0. A run of eight unanswered points for the Huskies found UMD trying to play catch up through much of the middle minutes of the first half, with SCSU outscoring them 14-16 over the next eight minutes and taking a 18-24 lead with roughly five minutes left. Back to back threes from Blair and Siwek would help the Bulldogs string together 10 points straight to take back the lead with two minutes left, and hold onto it going into the end of the half.
UMD closed out the first half of the afternoon shooting 11-32 (34.4%) from the field, 3-10 (30%) from outside the arc, and 5-5 (100%) from the charity line. They somewhat struggled to find their offensive footing through the early minutes, but made up for it with the strong as always defense that came up with a block and three steals to force eight SCSU turnovers before the first intermission.
Final Score: UMD (75) - SCSU (66)
A three pointer and free throw would help the Huskies outscore UMD 6-10 and hold a one point lead over them through the first four minutes of the second half. However, the Bulldogs would respond with six unanswered points off of three straight Andrews layups and outscore SCSU 12-2 over the next four minutes to take back the lead. UMD would hold onto this lead for the rest of the game, holding the Huskies to a deficit and matching the scoring 27-27 throughout the final 12 minutes of the game.
The Bulldogs ended the matinee matchup shooting 28-60 (46.7%) from the field, 6-15 (40%) from three point range, and 13-21 (61.9%) from the free throw line. UMD pushed the aggression this half to collect 24 rebounds and out rebound the Huskies by 12 in the second half. This helped the Bulldogs collect 12 second chance points and 42 points in the paint, trading SCSU's success on three pointers for many more successful possessions for small points throughout the game.
Top Performers
Graduate student guard Drew Blair led the Bulldogs in scoring this afternoon, shooting 9-19 (47.4%) from the field and 8-10 (80%) from the line for 27 total points. Senior forward Austin Andrews shot 6-10 (60%) from the field and 2-2 (100%) from the line for a second best 14 total points, while also collecting seven rebounds and an assist.
Looking Ahead
Men's Basketball will head back out on the road to take on the No.1 ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons and the Northern State University Wolves. The action for the Bulldogs will tip off on Friday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 PM.
