Article by Luke Paider. Photo by Zach Rudeen.
Halenbeck Hall was a place of celebration after yesterday nights victory. St. Cloud State fought off Bemidji State 68-60. It was a tale of two halves for the Huskies and a tale of resilience and grit.
Wyatt Hawks shined in front of the home crowd finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds. Crucially shooting 10-12 from the free throw line. His performance, especially in the first half was fundamental to sending St. Cloud to Sioux Falls this weekend.
It was unmistakable to tell that playoff basketball had clearly begun, both teams had boosted their intensity on both sides of the ball. The defenses in particular were hounding and neither team was able to build a lead larger than four points in the first half.
For St. Cloud the offense was coming from only a few players. Kynan Phillipe, Wyatt Hawks and Lucas Winkel who combined for the first 18 points St. Cloud put up in the game. In fact Wyatt Hawks hit double figures scoring with over nine minutes left in the first half truly carrying the Huskies in the opening quarter of the game.
The Beavers had a similar scoring split as well with John Sutherland and Tate Olson combining for 18 of Bemidji State’s first 24 points. The score remained close through the opening 20 minutes, although St. Cloud was dominating in quite a few stats.
The Huskies out rebounded the Beavers by six in the first half 24-18 and shooting 11-13 from the free throw line as a team compared to 5-9 from the visitors being the two that jumped out.
KVSC Radio color commentator Zach Rudeen said, “they killed the glass today” and added “they wanted it a lot more.”
Despite these statistical wins St. Cloud found themselves trailing 31-29 heading to the locker room. The Huskies shot 26% from the field compared to 44% shooting for the visiting Beavers. The Huskies needed the extra possessions created from the rebounding edge and were able to avoid the scoring droughts this team has suffered in the past by getting to the charity stripe which kept them close. The simple problem was they were doing the little things right but weren’t being rewarded for it.
The Huskies headed into the second half with their season on the line, it was now or never. In these moments teams look to their leaders to step up. Earlier in the year Nate Dahl described his role on the team as an “emotional leader” and trailing in a do or die game his team needed a spark. So he gave them one. Dahl came out of the break with a purpose, knocking down a three in the Huskies first possession to grab the lead. A few possessions later he got a steal on the defensive end that earned a transition break that finished with him at the line. Dahl fought for another tough bucket soon after and only three minutes into the second half Nate Dahl led the Huskies on an 8-2 run and a 37-33 lead.
The defense of the Huskies was the calling card in the second half. Off the back of the 8-2 run Luke Winkel intercepted an errant Beavers pass and got it ahead for a Lucas Morgan dunk. That coupled with a Morgan three the next possession, St. Cloud’s lead ballooned to nine points five minutes into the half. Making the score at this point 42-33.
A lead that was protected by Huskies made the Beavers earn every inch on offense. The Huskies got seven steals on Bemidji in the second half. In the first 10 minutes of the second half the Beavers only scored six points.
The Huskies finally found their shooting stroke and with 9:15 left in the contest St. Cloud led Bemidji State 51-37. Even more impressive, everyone was getting in on the fun. Hawks had 13, Dahl had eight, Winkel had eight, Morgan had nine, and Phillipe had 11.
The Beavers couldn’t focus on any one guy without another making them pay the price and the opening 11 minutes of the half were some of the best minutes the Huskies had put together all season.
Of course the Beavers had no plans to go quietly into the night. Beavers Senior Forward John Sutherland knew there was no basketball tomorrow if his team didn’t make a run, so he took them on a run. Sutherland led Bemidji State on a 14-3 run over the next four minutes. Drawing the score to 54-51 Huskies with 5:02 remaining.
Press coverage on defense was also key for the Beavers turning over the Huskies multiple times to get easy buckets. But Sutherland being a tough shot taker and tough shot maker was the culprit to the comeback efforts. An effort that was finally completed with just over three minutes left in regulation when John Pecarich splashed home a three giving the Beavers a 56-55 edge.
Just six minutes of game action to go St. Cloud looked like they were running away with it but now trail in crunch time.
Dahl quickly went the other way off the three got two feet in the paint and went up to score through contact and regain the lead for the Huskies. A lead they would never again relinquish. Over the final two minutes and 30 seconds St. Cloud relied on the two things that had been working all game. Defense and free throw shooting. Over the stretch Wyatt Hawks recorded a steal, a block and went 4-4 from the line. Luke Winkel also got a steal and added two free throws of his own. In all the Huskies went 9-10 from the free throw line over the last 150 seconds to power them to the 68-60 win.
Now, the Huskies season is not over and their next matchup is set. They’ll play Mankato on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the NSIC tournament. It’ll be a neutral site with everyone headed to Sioux Falls for the remainder of the conference postseason.
The squads are 1-1 in the two previous matchups this year. Having last played February 21 in a game the Huskies hope they’ve learned from after falling 70-52. St. Cloud just couldn’t manufacture enough offense last time and suffered a few unrecoverable scoring droughts.
The Huskies would be wise to repeat the formula they found against Bemidji that netted them 24 points from the charity stripe. In St. Cloud’s win over the Mavericks in January they got 19 points from free throws v.s. only nine in the loss. St. Cloud’s X-factor will be aggression and free points on Sunday as they look to keep the postseason dance going on their way to an NSIC Championship.
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