Erin Cochran/Winonan

The Winona State University men’s basketball team is now 5-1 after non-conference play at home and away.

On Friday, Nov. 16, the Warriors fought diligently in the opening half against the top ranked Metro State. Winona State trailed as Metro State took an early lead, but the Warriors fought to come within just eight as the period ended.

Early in the second half, the Metro State Roadrunners went on a 15-5 run, widening the point gap by 18.

Caleb Palkert assisted to bring the score within ten with a layup, but that was as close as Winona State would get as Metro State kept a double-digit lead until the end, winning 84-72.

Clayton Vette sunk eight of his 11 attempts and added six rebounds. Total, he scored 19 points. Taylor Cameron and Zander Culver each added nine. All eight Warriors who went on the court scored at least five points.

The team played very well, making 27-of-52, 51.9 percent field goal attempts. They were over 50 percent from the floor in both halves in the fast-paced contest.

“I feel like we’re not quite at the mental state we need to be at right now,” said head coach Mike Leaf.  “I’m not going to harp on anything too much because we’re getting into the rhythm with new opponents. I know that problem will go away so I’m going to focus on other elements. It’s a multi-dimensional game.”

“This was a top ranked team and we definitely knew that coming into it,” said Vette. “They put pressure on us from the very start and though there was some breakaways and close calls we just didn’t handle the pressure well.”

On Saturday’s game versus Colorado-Colorado Springs, Kellen Taylor scored a career-high 21 points to assist Winona State in a 66-57 victory.

Vette suffered a head injury, which prevented him from suiting up.

The Warriors kept the lead most of the game until the Mountain Lions pulled within three with just 58 seconds to play.
Cameron ran up the lane to put the Warriors up by five with just six seconds left. A paid of free throws nabbed the game for a Warrior victory.

Taylor hit all his attempts from behind the 3-point line as well as all his free throw attempts. He also had two steals, four rebounds and a blocked shot.

“You can’t really expect for points to come from the free-throw line because you never know what’s going to happen but I just got lucky at the line,” said Taylor. “I didn’t do anything that remarkably special other than what I know I should be doing but it just so happened that’s where I ended up for the night.”

Palkert scored 13, grabbed five rebounds and had four of the Warriors eight blocked shots.

UC-Colorado Springs shot just 37 percent from the court and made only three of 15 shots from behind the 3-point line.

Cameron scored nine points with nine rebounds and three assists. Xavier Humphrey added eight; Culver had six and Skyler O’Laughlin grabbed seven rebounds while blocking a pair of shots.

“When it comes down to it, we need to focus on our effort,” said Cameron. “This is a very talented team with a lot of experience and we just have to find that effort.”

“We need to focus on our shooting and rebounds,” said Leaf.  “The turnovers, I believe there was nine in the first half, can’t happen and that’s just due to the fact that we’re not taking care of the basketball.”

The team traveled to Michigan over the Holiday weekend and defeated Northwood University, 74-67 and Ferris State 69-56.

On Saturday’s game, Vette scored a game-high 29 points, grabbed 15 rebounds, hit nine free throws and went 10-of-20 from the floor.

This was the third game of the season here he nabbed at least 20 points and this was his second double-double.

Humphrey grabbed five rebounds and scored nine points. Taylor added points points and Culver hit a pair of 3-pointers to add six to the score. Mark Blacklock came off the bench and added seven for the Warriors.

With 7:28 to play, a layup by Vette gave the Warriors a one-point lead to start a back-and-forth fight until the end run as the Warriors then went 10-2, solidifying a nine-point cushion with two minutes to play.

“You have to pass inside to make sure you have those easy points our offense had make,” said Leaf. “Vette knows that some of our guys aren’t on point as they could be but he is used to working with that from last year and we know it will happen this year too as we’re seeing. He is poised and makes great decisions with what to do with the basketball so as long as we have him and he’s healthy I feel confident.”

The Winona State defense forced 16 turnovers and scored 21 points off of opponent miscues. The Warriors had just seven turnovers of their own.

In Sunday’s game the Warriors had a 23-5 second half run to solidify their second win of the weekend away.

Culver led with 11 points on offense and hit three shots from behind the 3-point line. Humphrey added ten, Taylor and Palkert with nine. Fischer and Vetter had eight.

Taylor also had a team-high of ten rebounds and seven assists.

All nine Warriors who stepped onto the court scored and eight scored at least six.

Winona State wraps up their non-conference at 5-1. The team returns to McCown Gymnasium Dec. 1 to host Upper Iowa in regular NSIC play.
Contact Erin at [email protected]