Erin Cochran/Winonan

The Winona State University men’s basketball team split their weekend on the road falling to the St. Cloud State University Huskies, 79-78 on Friday and defeating the University of Minnesota, Duluth Bulldogs, 89-73.

On Friday at St. Cloud, Grant Johnson sank a 3-pointer with just one second remaining to pull the Warriors to a single point deficit. That was as close as they would get to winning as the clock ran out before they could force the game into overtime.

Clayton Vette scored a whopping 28 points, went 9-of-14 from the field, nailed 10 of his 11 attempts from the free throw line, and grabbed nine rebounds.

This is the 12th time this season the senior has reached at least 20 points.

Taylor Cameron added 15 and tied Vette with nine rebounds. Freshman Mark Blacklock added eight points and Xavier Humphrey added 11.

From the field, the Warriors shot 49 percent and the Huskies went 47 percent.

The loss broke a 14 game winning streak, which was the fifth longest in school history.

Saturday’s game in Duluth was a different story as Winona State put up a fight to defeat the Bulldogs, 89-73.

“We just couldn’t let last night repeat itself,” said Cameron. “We were disappointed.”

The team controlled the game from the opening tip off, keeping a double-digit lead for most of the entire game.

The Bulldogs fought hard and came within eight points at half, but the Warriors came out, increased the lead to 42-28 with 18 minutes remaining and never looked back.

Cameron nabbed four rebounds, had a career-best seven assists and put up 16 points on the scoreboard.

Caleb Palkert along with Humphrey added nine while Zander Culver hit a pair of 3-pointers and added 10 points.

Vette tied his career high of 31 points, shot 56 percent and connected 11-of-12 free throw attempts. He also was able to nail eight rebounds. This game marked his fifth game this season of scoring at least 20 points and his third game of surpassing 30 points.

The senior’s monumental success on the court nabbed him the title of NSIC’s Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. In the past two games the 6-foot-9 inch powerhouse averaged 29.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

“This is a team success,” he said.  “Everyone is playing really well right now.”

The Warriors gave away just eight turnovers and gathered eight Bulldog steals. Palkert and Vette denied two Bulldog shots and as a whole, Winona State blocked six.

The team went 32-of-57 from the floor, hit 8-of-17 3-point attempts and only allowed the Bulldogs to shoot 38.3 percent.

The Warriors are now 21-4 overall and 15-3 in NSIC play. The team will return home this weekend to host Concordia University-St. Paul and Minnesota State University, Mankato.

All Winona State men’s basketball games can be heard on 89.5 KQAL Radio and online at kqal.org. All games can also be seen on local Channel 25 on HBC.

To get more information about Winona State basketball visit www.winonastatewarriors.com.

Contact Erin at [email protected].