With a score of 73-68, the Winona State University men’s basketball team closed out the Central Region Challenge with another win, and this time over Missouri Southern State University.

To start off the Central Region Challenge on Friday, Nov. 11, the Warriors took a win against Pittsburg State University 60-50, with guard Connor Dillon scoring 21 of those points. 

With just over a minute left in Saturday’s match against MSSU, Winona State held a one-point advantage before a jumper from Luke Martens, the captain of the Warriors and five Warrior free throws gave Winona State an eight-point lead with seven seconds to go. A Missouri Southern State University three-pointer in the final seconds brought the game to a final score of 73-68, and the Warriors earned their second win over a region opponent in the season’s opening weekend.

When Martens was asked about what motivated him to get this finish he said, “Coach just kind of kept mentioning one player at a time, one possession at a time everything like that. We can’t make six-point baskets so one on one possession and one-stop everything like that.”

Winona State University owns its second game in a row. The Warriors were able to connect on 11 of 25 (44%) shooting from beyond the arc and made an impressive 20 of 24 free throws, which sealed the deal down the stretch.

In both games, opponents were having a different strategy for the Warriors. Still, they were concentrating on their execution to pull up a win. Head Coach Todd Eisner said, “We just really struggled to make what seemed to be a lot of easy shots. And it was just more of a reminder to concentrate on our execution and details and to put ourselves in a position to get easy opportunities to score and they would go in.”

In the first half, the Warriors had a good time with the three-pointer shots as they had 53.33 percent accuracy and scored 24 points only with that. But in the second half, they kind of changed the plans as they were more focused on Field Goals. 

Eisner was satisfied with their gameplay and said, “I don’t expect any adjustments with our starting lineup or anything going into this weekend.”

The strength of the Warrior team is their defense. Unlike other teams that focus on both, the Warriors kept defense solid to secure the victory.

When Martens was asked about their missing rate in three-pointers and how they are working on it he said, “We are working on offense obviously, but defense is going to be our main point of emphasis. If a team scores zero points and we score one somehow in a basketball game, we win.”

The first half did not go as expected for the Warriors as they were behind 34 – 40. But the final moment comeback in the second half was huge.

The game was full of fighting as the score was tied 9 times and the lead was changed 11 times. The game had shown 9 Fast Breaks by the Warriors and 13 Fast Breaks by Missouri Southern State University.

Another senior player of team Warrior, Owen King, was asked about next week’s opponent and any special plans. King said, “The main thing for us is that defensive rebounding and taking care of those things that have to be there every game.”

It seems like the Warriors will show off their defensive skills this season which might prove them as a tough opponent for others in the rest of the season as they enter conference play next week.

The Winona State men’s basketball team is back in action this weekend in Kenosha for the University of Wisconsin – Parkside Haribo Invitational against UW-Parkside on Friday at 7 p.m. and Purdue Northwest at 5 p.m. on Saturday.