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Huskies move into fourth place in NCC with sweep
 Media Credit: Michael Martin/Managing Editor NDSU�s Tyrone Terry goes up for a basket as SCSU�s Chad Virgin defends. The Huskies defeated the Bison Friday and the University of North Dakota Saturday.
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Jonny Reese always seems to have that magic touch for the SCSU men's basketball team.
The senior guard caught fire midway through the second half of the Huskies' game Saturday night against the University of North Dakota, as SCSU took control of the game late in an important 87-73 win.
Midway through the second half, the Huskies (18-6, 10-6 NCC) trailed UND 56-49 with 12:29 remaining. This is when Reese, along with the rest of the team, started to heat up. The Huskies finished the half on a 30-11 run, as their defense and offense seemingly came together all at once.
Reese hit three treys in a three-minute chunk that allowed the Huskies to take back the game.
When Reese entered the game with 13 minutes remaining, and the Huskies trailing, the game took on a whole new definition.
"Coach Reimer (assistant coach Matt Reimer) bumped Coach Schlagel and told him to put me in," Reese said. "I definitely thank him for doing that. After that happened, I knew I had to come through.This is our house and I knew we had to defend our territory."
On Senior Night at Halenbeck, everything clicked for Reese and the Huskies. Reese finished with 16 points. The Huskies were led by another senior, B.J. Brant, who scored 17. Alex Carlson tied Brant for the lead in scoring with 17 of his own. Junior forward Jason Kron added 16 as well, and had a game-high 12 boards.
With it being Senior Night, everything just seem destined to work out well, said head coach Kevin Schlagel.
"When Jonny caught fire there, it was the boost we needed at the time," he said. "It's been his role all year to come off the bench and give us that spark. It was never more evident than tonight. What a fitting situation with it being Senior Night."
UND led 37-35 at the half, and started out the second half strong.
Sophomore guard Jeff Brandt became more aggressive to start the half, and then there's always the threat of the dominant 6-foot-10-inch Jerome Beasley. UND built their largest lead of seven right before Reese came into the game.
Brandt had 13 quick points before SCSU called a timeout with 13:49 remaining. He finished with 16 points on the night, as Reese shut him down defensively the rest of the way. In fact, Brandt got into a couple of shoving matches with Reese and Carlson.
"To be honest, I was locking Brandt up tonight," Reese said. "In the second, he started to get hot. I knew I had to answer him at both ends of the court. I locked onto him, and just worried about shutting him down."
The Joe Smith-like Beasley led all scorers with 28 points and led the Sioux with eight rebounds. Other than Beasley and Brandt, nobody else got into double figures for UND. Beasley said after the game that his team was rushing too much.
"We just stepped out of our boundaries and lost our patience at the end of the game," Beasley said. "It wasn't bad shooting, but we just rushed our shots. If we would've had more patience, it would have been different. St. Cloud took advantage of us not taking our time."
SCSU went on a rampage in the second half as they shot 62 percent. They finished at 48 percent for the game after only shooting 36 percent in the first. UND shot 48 percent for the game, but was out-rebounded 38-28 on the battle of the glass.
The Huskies also went back to something that has hurt them; jacking up too many three pointers. They shot 12 in the first half, and only made two. But, they calmly made four of nine in the second, and started to assert themselves in the paint more.
"We spread the floor more and got some dribble penetration to the basket in the second," Schlagel said. "We got caught up with shooting too many three's in the first half. But, we started getting the ball inside more in the second, and got higher percentage shots."
On Friday SCSU trampled North Dakota State, 82-68, in a game that was never that close. St. Cloud led 48-23 at the half, thanks in most part to 59 percent shooting from the field. SCSU finished the game at 47 percent shooting, and had an astounding 34 points off of NDSU turnovers. The Bison committed 21 turnovers for the game.
Kron led the way with 17 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies. Brant and Carlson added 13 apiece, and senior Rado Rancik compiled an impressive 11 point, nine rebound and six assist night.
The weekend sweep of the North Dakota schools moved the Huskies back into a tie with UND for fourth place in the NCC. The top four teams in the conference get to host a first round tournament game in the Wells Fargo NCC Tournament. That makes next weekend's games at Morningside and South Dakota all the more crucial.
"We're still looking to make a run towards the end here," said senior captain Brant. "We did that last year, and there's still a sense of urgency for us to come out and play our best basketball."
Andy Rennecke can be reached at: [email protected]
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