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Huskies destroy champs
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor Freshman Nate Miller goes up for a basket during the first half Friday night as the Huskies beat South Dakota. SCSU also beat Morningside on Saturday at Halenbeck Hall.
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Derek Fisher and Nick Van Exel have nothing on Forrest Witt’s shot.
Rado Rancik is a man-child down low when he gets the ball. These are all statements that SCSU men’s basketball fans have wanted to hear this year.
Fortunately, all of this happened this weekend for Husky enthusiasts, as SCSU swept the University of South Dakota and Morningside College this weekend in the North Central Conference’s opening weekend.
In Friday night’s 97-81 mauling of the Coyotes, who are ranked 24th in the nation, Rancik and Witt were the key to victory. Witt hit the first basket of the game and never looked back. He had 17 points at halftime, and finished with 28 on the night. He netted three treys, only missed two shots all night, and didn’t miss a single free throw (9 of 9). Not bad for the first big game of what is expected to be a great season.
“My teammates got me in the position to shoot and I was just making my shots tonight,” Witt said. “We were moving the ball very well. Once you start hitting a couple you feel good. It’s all about confidence.”
“Forrest is a great player,” Rancik said of his teammate. “I’ve seen it time and time again. He comes out and plays hard. He makes the smart plays. If you give him a little space, he’ll hit the shot.”
Rancik wasn’t too shabby himself on Friday. Only playing 18 minutes, Rancik poured in 24 points. He also got his first dunk of the season that got the crowd of 2,800 on its feet. With 13:16 left to play in the first half, he entered. The Huskies immediately went on a 11-0 run, and the game was not the same after that.
“You have to love watching Rado play,” head coach Kevin Schlagel said. “He plays with great emotion, and just loves to play the game. It’s neat, as a coach, to see someone enjoy playing the game that much.”
Rancik talked more about the team’s defense on players like Josh Mueller, Paul Marshall, and Jimmie Foster. All have been keys to South Dakota’s early season success.
“We took care of our defense quite well, and we helped each other as a team,” Rancik said. “Any team in this conference can put together a run. The question is, ‘Can you respond to that run?’ If someone puts a run together you can’t hang your head. We took care of our game tonight and it all came together.”
The number five Huskies never trailed after Witt’s first basket. After SCSU’s 11-0 run, the game was back and forth the rest of the first half. Mueller was the only Coyote awake, as Foster and Marshall were smothered by the defense of Johnny Reese, Jason Kron, and B.J Brant. Mueller had 14 points at the break, and finished with 25 on the night to lead USD.
SCSU built their biggest lead of the night of 21 points, after the Rancik flush. The Coyotes responded though and traded baskets with the Huskies the majority of the rest of the second half. The closest USD came was within eight points, after a Marshall trey with 4:43 remaining.
The Huskies wouldn’t fold though as they went on a 7-0 run to close out the game. It was keyed by no other than two Rancik baskets and a Witt three-pointer.
Alex Carlson had his best game of the year so far for the Huskies. He had 16 points, four of those treys, and seven assists. Kron led the Huskies in boards with nine. Brant chipped in 11 points. Steve Anderson led the Coyotes with seven boards and contributed 11 points.
The Husky defense tormented USD into 22 turnovers and scored 25 points off of those. There was also a big disparity in the paint, as the Huskies outscored their opponent, 38-22.
“We rotated people to their shooters and it paid off,” Schlagel said. “Points in the paint is also huge for us. We need to score down low so that we can stretch the defense out and create some space on the perimeter for our jump shooters.”
Schlagel noted that another game was on the horizon for his team and that they had to carry over the momentum they had gained from their first conference victory.
“You can’t rest on your laurels from the first night,” he said. “We’ve already talked about it. This was a big game, but it doesn’t carry over much value if you don’t come to play the next night.”
Schlagel had no reason to fret as the Huskies bombarded the Morningside Mustangs, 87-51. The Huskies never trailed in this contest either, as they started off to an impressive 38-19 halftime advantage. Fourteen of the fifteen players on the Husky roster scored.
Witt again led the way with 18 points, and Brant was next with 10. Junior center Cullen Powers had a nice effort with nine points, and a team-high seven boards. Mark Roush led the Stangs’ with 16 points and 16 boards.
Not bad of an effort, considering you just got done beating the three-time defending NCC champ.
“We have to come out every game like it’s the national championship,” Witt said.
“These are big wins. To come out and establish what we’re capable of doing will hopefully give everybody a taste of what we’re going to do this year.”
The only tastes that come to mind for the Huskies’ opponents will be either bitter or sour.
SCSU will play Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Concordia-St. Paul in a non-conference game and will return to Halenbeck Hall on Saturday for another non-conference matchup against St. John’s University at 8 p.m.
Andy Rennecke can be reached at: [email protected]
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