A close loss at on home ground set Winona State University back in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The Warriors fell to Northern State University at 77-75 in a neck-in-neck match. It was in the last 14 seconds that Josh Dilling of Northern State scored a two-pointer which granted them the victory.
Winona State was having their Game Day Program, while they returned to their NSIC league matches after 20 days. Jacksen Moni from Northern State was the first to put points on the scoreboard for his team. In less than 20 seconds, Connor Drew from Winona State tied the score with another 3-pointer which presented an early indication of a competitive game.
The first 12 minutes of the game were dominated by Northern State who landed a couple of picture-perfect 3-point shots that would give them an early lead.
Because of the many rebounds managed by Northern State, they maintained the upper hand on snagging some difficult shots. On the other hand, Winona State was struggling to match their opponents in 3-pointers but were quite good at scoring the 2-point shots necessary to stay close in the score, but it was not enough to take the lead.
Winona State got the hold of the game in the last five minutes of the first half with a 3-pointer by Drew. The lead was only temporary as it was equalized after only a minute by Northern State. Both teams attempted to finish ahead in the first half but ended at 37-37 points at the end.
At the start of the second half, Winona State took back the game. Back-to-back successes and three 3-point shots by Carson Arenz pushed them into an eight-point lead. It did not take long for Northern State to come back in the game by once again equalizing the score at 42-42.
The show was then stolen by Olumide Adelodun of Winona State. Even after having the reputation of being a guard, he presented his skills on the opponent’s court.
Drew presented some classy dribbling underneath the opponent’s nets. The lead on the scoreboard and fascinating play cheered up the crowd and gave them hope of winning. Winona State has previous records of match-winning if they are able to hold the lead for a good amount of time.
The Warriors tried to maintain the lead, but the game turned around when the score was 57-62. From this point, Winona State began losing the ball and Northern State snagged a 7-point lead. This was the point where Winona State lost their rhythm in the match and ultimately lost control.
“We knew what we were able to get against Northern right away,” Connor Dillon said. We are able to kind of drive on digs but towards the end of the game we started just taking tough shots and it kind of cost us later.”
A lot of recovery was performed by Winona State. Before the last 17 seconds, the score was 75-75. Josh Dilling from Northern State put the last notch in the scoreboard ending the match at 77-75 points with Northern State defeating their host.
“We didn’t shoot the ball too well today, but when we got up here, we kind of stepped back on defense and that led them back into the game and we lost it from there.” Adelodun said.
A before-match statistic showed that Winona State had an advantage for the home game. They consistently beat the opponents that were behind them in the NSIC points table 67.63% of the time, but the tables were turned by Northern State.
Winona State’s head coach Todd Eisner was upset with the loss at home, as every match point counts to qualify for the NSIC.
“Anytime you lose your home court advantage, you’re putting yourself in a tough spot. We just have not done a good job of playing well at home,” Eisner said. “We didn’t play well at either end of the floor today and that obviously cost us a chance to win a really good home game.”
After the win, Northern State promoted their position to 8th on the NSIC league table. Without any demotion, Winona State kept their 7th position and still has the chance to qualify for the semi-finals.
