Men's Basketball Report: January 4
Augustana 83, Nebraska-Omaha 60
Sioux Falls, S.D. -- Augustana used a blend of sharp outside shooting and a stingy defense to race past Nebraska-Omaha 83-60 Thursday night at the Sioux Falls Arena in the North Central Conference opener for both teams. With the win, Augustana extended its winning streak to 6 games. The Vikings have also won 13 of their last 14 outings.
The Vikings blitzed UNO at the outset of the game. Nick Olson scored the Vikings first 11 points and 13 of their first 16 as Augie grabbed an early 19-5 lead just 4 minutes into the contest.
Nebraska-Omaha trimmed the lead to 10 at 28-18 with 6:48 left in the half before Augustana rattled off 18 unanswered points to boost the lead to 28 at 46-18 with 1:31 left in the half.
The Vikings shot a stellar 67 percent (16 of 24) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including a 9 of 13 effort (69 percent) from 3-point range. UNO, meanwhile, shot 25 percent, making just 7 of 28 shots, including 2 of 13 shots behind the arc.
In the second half, Nebraska-Omaha briefly cut the lead to 19 at 60-41 with 9:24 to play, before Augie again pushed the lead back to 28 at 79-51 with 3:40 on the clock.
Olson led a trio of Vikings in double figures with 18 points, with 15 of them coming in the first half. Eric Krogman added a career-high 16 points off the bench to go along with 7 rebounds. Joey Ryan pitched in with 15 points, 12 in the first half. In addition, Elliot Thomas matched his career high with 9 points.
Michael Jenkins paced UNO with 13 points, while Andrew Bridger came off the bench to net 11. Josh Vanderslice was next with 10 points. Zac Robinson, UNO's leading scorer (18.4 ppg) and top 3-point shooter was limited to 5 points and 1 of 8 shooting behind the arc.
St. Cloud State 92, North Dakota 90 (OT)
Grand Forks, N.D. -- It was a tough night for the University of North Dakota men's basketball team. The Sioux lost a 92-90 overtime thriller, in the North Central Conference opener in front of 2,176 at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Trailing 91-90 with 10 seconds remaining, Mark Kruse had open look in the corner. His three-point attempt bounced off the rim. Drapped with two defenders, Tyler Koenig grabbed the rebound two feet outside the rim. His putback with three seconds left bounced off the rim and also was no good.
St. Cloud State's Craig Coenen added another free throw with .05 seconds remaining. UND attempted a cross-court pass to Emmanuel Little, but it failed.
UND played well in the final four minutes of regulation to push the game into overtime. The Sioux trailed 77-69 with 3:43 remaining. Kruse hit a jumper on UND's next possession, sparking an 8-1 run that pulled the Sioux within 78-77 with 15 seconds remaining. St. Cloud's David Dreas added two free throws five seconds later, setting up a last-second shot by UND's Ervin Youmans.
Youmans dribbled across the three-point line, hesitated and decided to take the shot himself. Still in motion, he took a step back across the line and nailed the turnaround jumper with three seconds remaining to send the game into the overtime period.
It was a close, back-and-forth game throughout. The two teams tied eight times in the first half and six times in the second.
Little once again had a great offensive performance. He led UND in scoring with 19 points, going perfect from the field, hitting 8-of-8 field goals. Little also had a team-high 11 rebounds.
Harry Boyce added 17 points, while Kruse ended with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Defensively the Sioux couldn't stop the Huskies' long-distance shooting. St. Cloud State hit 15-of-33 (45.4 percent) three-pointers.
Dreas and Eric Green led the Huskies in scoring. Each ended with 18 points and had big second halves. Green didn't score a point in the first half, while Dreas only had three. Dusty Wabiszewski added 14 points, while Coenen ended with 11.
Minnesota State 86, Minnesota Duluth 81 (2OT)
Mankato, Minn. -Minnesota State downed Minnesota Duluth 86-81 in double-overtime in a thrilling North Central Conference opener. With the victory, MSU pushes its winning streak in the Taylor Center to 13 games, establishing a new arena record.
Paris Kyles poured in a career-high 26 points in the victory, connecting on 10-of-17 shots from the floor, including 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. Kyles was matched in the scoring column by Luke Anderson's 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arch.
After playing to a 33-26 halftime advantage, pushed its lead too as many as 11 at 46-35 with 14:15 remaining in regulation. UMD would chipped away at the Maverick lead, cutting it 57-52 with 8:24 remaining in the contest. The four point MSU lead marked the last time that either team held a two-possession advantage until the second overtime.
The Bulldogs took the lead at 62-61 with 4:53 remaining in the game as Bryan Foss connected on a jumper. Neither team would push a lead to more than one over the course of the next five minutes until Maverick Tony Thomason knocked down a pair of free throws with 25 seconds remaining. With MSU clinging to a 71-68 lead with four seconds remaining in regulation, Foss drilled a three-point basket from the left wing to send the game to overtime.
Both teams opened the first extra session trading a pair of baskets. UMD's Jordan Nuness connected on a jumper to give the Bulldogs a 75-73 lead with three minutes remaining, however it was Kyles' layup with 1:01 remaining that forced the second overtime.
After UMD took a quick lead to begin the second overtime session, Thomason drilled a three from the left wing with 1:55 remaining to give the Mavericks a lead it would not relinquish at 81-79. Kyles' followed by sinking a pair of free throws to push it to a two-possession game with 1:32 remaining in the contest.
Thomason, who saw his first action in two games, finished with a career-high 11 assists while contributing 11 points. It marks his first career double-double, and the third by a Maverick this season. Junior forward Atila Santos also added 14 points and tied for the game-high with seven rebounds.
Minnesota State shot 46.4 percent from the floor, marking the first time in four contests the Mavericks have shot a clip higher than 45%. Both teams finished the contest with 39 rebounds, marking the first time this season that MSU has not outrebounded its opponent.