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Florida enlivens SCSU
 Media Credit: Leslie Andres
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A vacation to Florida can do wonders for the soul, especially if you’re from the frozen tundra known as Minnesota.
The SCSU men’s basketball team played in the Lynn Pepsi Classic in Boca Raton, Fla., last weekend soaking up the sun, along with splitting two games against No. 15 (NABC/Division II poll) Washburn University (Kan.) and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez.
In an 87-70 semifinal loss to Washburn Friday, the Huskies didn’t shoot well from the field (40 percent) and shot a miserable 11 of 22 from the free throw line. SCSU trailed Washburn 38-28 at the half and the shooting inaccuracies took hold from there on out. The free throw failings were of great surprise due to the fact that St. Cloud led the nation in free shooting percentage a year ago.
Senior forward Jason Kron led all scorers with 17 points and sophomore forward Steve Trull had a team high six rebounds. Washburn had five players score in double figures, led by Ryan Murphy who had 16. WU also controlled the glass, outrebounding the Huskies 49-30.
Head coach Kevin Schlagel said that the trip to Florida was beneficial because of the competition in Washburn and the bonding that occurred between his players.
“I felt really good about the way we played,” Schlagel said. “We just didn’t shoot the ball well, which surprised us because we’re very good shooters. It was just one of those nights where the ball wasn’t going in.”
“It was a good experience to play a team like Washburn because they’re very similar to what we’ll be facing in our conference. From a trip standpoint, it was great for the guys to get know one another and just to understand a little bit more about what it takes to win on the road.”
Senior guard Forrest Witt and Kron said that the Huskies just beat themselves against WU.
“They’re a good team, but they’re not any better than we are,” Witt said after practice Wednesday. “It looked like kind of a blowout, but we did some things well. We held our own against them. If we would have made our shots, it would have been a different story.”
“Washburn’s a NCC-caliber team,” Kron noted. “Our free throw shooting just let us down and that’s something you’re not going to see that often from us.”
SCSU rebounded Saturday by winning the consolation title in a 99-44 blowout against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. Witt led all scorers with 17 points, including five three-pointers. Witt went six-for-10 from the field and five-for-eight from downtown. Senior center Brent Frikken had a career high 12 points and nine rebounds and Cullen Powers added 10 points from the post. Raul Aviles paced Mayaguez with 11 points.
The Huskies rebounded shooting-wise going 48 percent from the field. They dominated the paint outscoring Mayaguez 32-16, and forced them into 26 turnovers. The Husky bench outscored UPRM by a huge margin of 49-20.
However, the best aspect that came out of the game was that Witt began to look for his shot more. Previously Witt had been held to 7 shots a game, a pattern that he and Schlagel didn’t want to continue.
“We’ve talked with Forrest extensively about being our go-to guy,” Schlagel said. “He’s got to look for his shot, but he’s such an unselfish player that he will pass up a questionable shot to get the ball to a guy who’s a little more open. We need for Forrest to be taking some questionable shots because he’s that good.”
“I really have to be assertive and come out looking for my shot because the team needs me to do that,” Witt said.
SCSU faces an interesting opponent Thursday when they travel north to face Bemidji State University. The Beavers (2-3) are coming off of two losses to NCC teams. BSU lost to Augustana 74-70 and were blown out by South Dakota State 83-66. The Beavers are led by senior guard Stan Johnson, who is averaging 16.6 points per game. Senior center Ben Caron has led the team in rebounding thus far with 6.6 a game and has also chipped in 10.8 ppg.
BSU is an excellent outside shooting team and SCSU knows that they’ll have to defend the perimeter well. The Beavers are vastly improved from what the Huskies saw last season in their 85-57 victory.
“Bemidji’s going to shoot as many three’s as they can get off,” Schlagel said. “They’re averaging 30 three’s a game, which is twice as many as we’d take, but they’re shooting very well. They were picked to finish second in their league so we know they’re well-balanced.”
SCSU returns home Saturday to host Northern Michigan University. The Wildcats (3-2) have already beaten NCC doormat North Dakota State 77-67 in Fargo. NMU’s last contest was a 94-86 win against Lake Superior State. The Cats’ are led by junior forward Billy Hill, who’s poured in 17.4 ppg so far this year. NMU plays a similar style to Bemidji, so the Huskies think they’ll be ready.
“They’re an athletic team who can put up a lot of points,” Schlagel said. “They played NDSU well so that kind of shows what kind of caliber team they have.”
Around the Rim
-Kron is currently leading the team in scoring (11.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg). The rebounding statistic is not a surprise since he led the team in that category a year ago, but his scoring lead is a bit of a shocker. The defensive specialist is excited about his offensive binge though.
“It’s part of my role this year to score more,” Kron said. “I guess my shots have been falling more, but our scoring is always going to be balanced with the guys we have. I know it’ll (individual scoring) even itself out. I’ve been working on my offense a lot and I hope to keep it up.”
-SCSU has outscored their opponents 86.2 to 59.0 thus far.
-Kron’s high school alma mater (Rocori) plays point guard Alex Carlson’s (Litchfield) on Saturday in boys basketball action.
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