Winona State University's Newspaper since 1919

The Winonan

Winona State University's Newspaper since 1919

The Winonan

Winona State University's Newspaper since 1919

The Winonan

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Winona State splits last home games of the regular season

Erin Cochran/Winonan

The Winona State men’s basketball team split their weekend at home as they fell to Concordia-St. Paul, 89-74 on Friday and beat Minnesota State Mankato, 75-64 Saturday.

Friday, the Warriors fell short as the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears shot 50 percent from the floor with 57.7 percent accuracy from behind the 3-point line. At the half, the Golden Bears solidified their nine-point lead and added as much as 23 points midway through the second half.

Mark Blacklock hit three shots from behind the 3-point line, along with Xavier Humphrey. Zander Culver also added a pair of 3-point shots. Taylor Cameron added 12 points in the contest, and Humphrey added 13.

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Clayton Vette added 24, including 11 rebounds, in his eighth double-double of the season.

Vette leads in the NSIC scoring standings as he went 8-of-12 from the floor. This is the sixth time he has reached at least 20 points consecutively.

Saturday’s game was more successful, as the Warriors defeated the Minnesota State Mavericks 75-64, wrapping up the final regular season home game.

This was an incredible showdown between the top two teams in the NSIC, the overall ranked No. 8 Mavericks and No. 15 Warriors. Both teams are 16-4 in the conference.

Vette led the team in scoring, adding 19 points. Cameron added 15, had four assists and grabbed six rebounds.

Grant Johnson also grabbed six rebounds of his own while adding 12 points. Humphrey added 16, with three from behind the 3-point line.

Winona State went 25-of-48, 48 percent on their field goal attempts. The Warriors made seven shots from behind the 3-point line.

The team’s defense allowed the Mavericks to shoot 14.3 percent from behind the 3-point line. The team forced 14 turnovers and only allowed ten of their own.

This was the first Warrior victory over a top-ten ranked team since the March 5, 2011 contest against the No. 6 Minnesota State Mavericks in the NSIC tournament.

“I think we were more focused on Saturday rather than Friday,” said Johnson. “Dwelling on a loss, as we learned last weekend, isn’t good for looking forward and that’s what we try to focus on.”

This is the 30th victory for head coach Mike Leaf against ranked opponents.

The regular season will close next weekend on the road as the Warriors take on Augustan and Wayne State.

The team feels optimistic about a possibility of a post-season trip to the championship.  Though the Warriors’ win streak was broken last week, they feel optimistic about ending on a victorious note.

“The general consensus was that we are talented enough to do that kind of streak again, and that although we feel we still should have won, it lets us know we need to focus and that there is still a ton of work that needs to be done gearing toward playoffs,” said Humphrey.

Humphrey also spoke about a large-scale championship for the team.

“We can do it, if we eliminate the small mistakes and focus on one game at a time and executing every play then it can definitely be done. But right now we are focused on this weekend’s games because they are very important,” he said.

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].

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