Article by Zach Rudeen. Photo by Zach Rudeen.
St. Cloud fell 115-104 in their home opener vs Concordia St. Paul Thursday night. Concordia St. Paul was led by the dominance of Antwan Kimmons who tallied 43 points on an incredible 16-21 shooting. Kimmons dominance is no surprise, as he’s a transfer from division 1 Northern Iowa where he played over 50 games of division 1 basketball. Kimmons is a very strong 6 foot guard who possesses elite speed and craft around the basket.
The Huskies had yet to score 80 in a game yet this season, and ended up scoring 104 tonight with an overall good offensive performance. Jammir Allen’s second half master-class almost helped the Huskies back into the game. Allen, who’s the team’s leading scorer in the early season, scored 26 points on the night. Allen’s ability to smoothly get to his spots from 3-point range and the midrange is very impressive. Allen has a big competitive motor on both ends as well.
Nate Dahl’s early season success continues as another bright spot from the Huskies tonight. Dahl scored 20 points on 5 of 9 shooting and got to the free throw line 10 times. Dahl has had a lot of success getting to the line in the early season.
The defensive issues for the Huskies early on stemmed from their lack of good transition defense. The Bears are a much older roster than the Huskies and it showed early with quick passes and open 3-point makes. Throughout the game the Bears consistently put pressure on the rim led by Kimmons and sophomore guard Ben Kopetski who ended up with 24 points on the night.
The Bears continued their early season trend of good 3-point shooting making 13 of 25 attempts from 3-point range. The Huskies nearly matched the Bears shooting 10 for 24 themselves. Both teams combined for an unprecedented 62 free-throw attempts.
St. Cloud ran mostly a 9-man rotation tonight, but 10th man Issac Neal got some runs in the 1st half. As expected when the other team shoots 30+ free-throws, there’s going to be foul trouble and that’s something St. Cloud dealt with in this game. Hawks, Dahl and Ramlall all played less than they would have due to foul trouble.
The Huskies half-court defense had some positives in this game. They moved around pretty well laterally, and stuck with a roster in Concordia full of experienced talent. In the second half they had some good moments doubling the basketball and forcing turnovers. St. Cloud won the turnover battle 13 to 11.
The Huskies played with a lot of grit on the offensive glass crashing constantly grabbing an ultra impressive 15 offensive rebounds. Freshman standout Kynan Philippe produced in that aspect and as a scorer. Philippe has had a strong start to the season offensively shooting 42% from deep and scoring over 11 points per game.
The team will now host Upper Iowa Monday night, who have posted a 2-0 record thus far in the season. Upper Iowa will have a quick turnaround with a Sunday game against Minnesota Crookston, so the rest advantage goes to the Huskies.
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