Dillon Hogan/Winonan

In the first round of the NSIC tournament, the Winona State University men’s basketball team took down Minot State 67-56 Feb. 26 in Winona. The win advanced them to the next round, resulting in a 78-70 victory over St. Cloud State on March 2.

Against Minot State, the Warriors put forth a team effort to take down Minot State 67-56 and win their opening-round matchup.

The Warriors worked their way to a double-digit lead in the first half, courtesy of a 9-0 run which gave them a 14-point lead. In the second half, Minot State worked their way to cut the Warrior lead to only eight, but the Warriors never let them get any closer.

The Warriors extend their lead to as much as 19 once, with under five minutes left in the game. Offense shot 43 percent for the night, and three Warriors reached the double-digit mark. Riley Bambenek led the Warriors with 18 points, while Isaiah Gray scored 15 and a team-high six rebounds. Rounding out the trio was Mark Blacklock, who scored 13 points for the Warriors. On defense the Warriors held Minot State to 37 percent shooting and forced 12 turnovers.

Following the Warriors’ win, they were matched up against St. Cloud State in Sioux Falls, S.D.. This marks the 11th straight season the Warriors have won at least one conference tournament game, and now Winona State is 24-9 all time in NSIC tournament play. This victory also gave the Warriors their 24th overall win, tying them for sixth all time in program history.

Concluding the game against St. Cloud State, the Warriors played a much more closely-contested game and were able to come away with a 78-70 victory.

In a strong defensive game from both teams, the Warriors held St. Cloud State to 32 percent shooting for the game. The Warriors were able to take the lead late in the first half at 36-29.

In the second half, a five-minute scoreless period for St. Cloud allowed the Warriors to take a double-digit lead for the first time in the game. The Warriors would keep the lead late into the second half until a St. Cloud State challenge.

Under four minutes remained with St. Cloud down by only four points until clutch free throws by Josh Mongan and Bambenek and a breakaway dunk by Blacklock sealed the game for the Warriors. Bambenek was the leading scorer again for the Warriors with 23 points. This was the tenth 20-point game for Bambenek this season, and he was recently named the NSIC Freshman of the Year.

Mongan scored a career-high 15 points for the Warriors while also grabbing five boards and dishing out five assists. Blacklock was the third Warrior to reach double digits with 15 points also and six rebounds, five of which were offensive. Coming just shy of double-digit points and a double-double, Kellen Taylor had nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks. The Warriors shot 46.7 percent from the floor as a team.

The Warriors faced Minnesota State University Moorhead March 3, dominating defensively for the 70-53 victory. The win advanced Winona State to the championship game at the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.

This will mark the seventh time the Warriors make an appearance in the conference tournament championship game under head coach Mike Leaf.

The Warriors took the lead early, shooting 52 percent from the floor. The lead extended through halftime and reached 23 points with under three minutes left in the game.

Blacklock led Winona State with 22 points, one point less than his career high. After the win against MSU

Moorhead, the Warriors were 26-6 overall and had sole ownership of fifth place. The 26 wins are the most wins in a single season in the program’s history.

At the time of publication, the championship game is scheduled to take place Tuesday, March 4, against the winner of the game between Minnesota State and Southwest Minnesota State.