Laura Anderson / Winonan

The Winona State University men’s basketball team played their season opener against the University of Wisconsin-Stout Saturday, Nov. 12 in the newly renovated McCown Gymnasium. The Warriors won 76-47.

Josh Mongan, senior guard, said, “We made strides from the exhibition games to game one. Our energy was better but was still inconsistent…We still had lulls of mishaps and lazy play.”

The Warriors won their first exhibition game November 3 against Carroll University 69-65. The second exhibition game was against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the Warriors won 70-65.

“Our two exhibition games were a learning lesson for us. Our energy and effort levels were sub-par and we were very unorthodox in what we were doing on the court,” Mongan said. “In the end, that is what exhibition games are for. Drive the kinks out and learn from the mistakes.”

The first four scoring possessions all went for three points. Riley Bambenek, senior guard, made three shots from behind the arc, which gave Winona State an 11-point lead at the beginning of the game.

The successful start continued as Winona State went on an 8-0 run and extended their lead to 15 points.

Going into the half, the Warriors were up 20 points after Charlie Koontz’s layup that led Josh Mongan’s 3-pointer. This contributed to the team going 7-13 from behind the arc at this point in the game.

The game stat leaders for the Warriors included Bambenek, Kyle Bauman, Koontz and Corey Jeffs who scored a combination of 56 points. The team’s success was largely due to shooting 3-pointers and continually contesting shots on defense, which held the Blue Devils to 29 percent as they made nine of 31 shots.

During the game, the Warriors were hoping to see a high level of energy.

“Hustle. Coach repeatedly talks about competing,” Mongan said. “We are going to make mistakes and run things wrong every once in a while. As long as you compete and work as hard as you can, hustle and communicate, the rest will eventually take care of itself.”

The Warriors outscored the Blue Devils 16-2. Bauman had six rebounds and led both teams in points at half. With seven rebounds, Jeffs led Winona State at halftime as well as added eight points while shooting 2-3 from the arc.

According to Mongan, the Warriors will focus on transition defense and work towards consistent improvement of the overall game during practice.

“Stout got out and beat us up the floor, which is inexcusable,” Mongan said. “Our other focus is to consistently get better in everything we do. How you practice is how you play. We are not particularly good at one thing or bad at one thing so each drill in practice has its importance.”

Bambenek’s free throw allowed the Warriors to achieve a 30-point lead, but the Blue Devils brought the point gap down to 29 at the end of the half. Winona State outshot Stout 53.6 percent to 26.7 percent.

The Warriors play Saint Mary’s University on Monday, Nov. 21 in McCown Gymnasium at 7 p.m.

-By Laura Anderson