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Huskies take NCC tourney
 Media Credit: Adam Masloski SCSU�s Forrest Witt goes up for a lay-up against UNO. He scored 24 points and was named the MVP in the NCC Tournament Mar. 8 at Halenbeck Hall.
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They did exactly what they were expected to do.
The SCSU men's basketball team made easy work of the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks and North Dakota State University Bison in the Wells Fargo NCC Tournament Mar. 7 and 8 at Halenbeck Hall. The wins gained SCSU a No. 2 seed in the NCAA North Central Region tournament. The University of Nebraska-Kearney earned the top seed and the rights to host the tourney.
The then No. 22 Huskies used a combination of strong second half shooting, strong free throw shooting and limiting turnovers to a minimum in both games to lead them to their second NCC tournament crown in three years.
In Saturday's 88-78 win in the championship game against UNO, St. Cloud fell behind early but began to take control early in the second half. After a 36-36 stalemate at halftime, SCSU went into their locker room unhappy with their performance.
"We went into halftime unhappy with the intensity we had," junior point guard Alex Carlson said. "We weren't playing with a whole lot of emotion. We weren't playing with emotion for the conference tournament championship. We just talked about going out and laying it all out on the line."
"Coach (SCSU head coach Kevin Schlagel) emphasized that we can't be lackadaisical," senior guard Forrest Witt said. "We wanted to win and I think we responded tonight. We knew we were already in the NCAA tournament, but that doesn't mean we couldn't go out hard and win another championship."
SCSU did just that. They used 56 percent shooting in the second half to their advantage and committed only one turnover. They also hit 30 of 34 free throw attempts in the game.
"We eliminated the silly mistakes in the second half," forward Jason Kron said.
The Huskies broke the game open when Witt hit his fifth three-pointer of the game with 14:38 remaining in the second. It gave SCSU a 55-46 lead and it seemed to take the wind out of the Mavericks' sails. UNO would get no closer than six points the rest of the way. The Huskies built their largest lead with 6:57 left when sixth man Nate Miller connected on a pull-up jumper that gave his team a 73-61 advantage.
"They came out with a lot of energy in the second half," UNO head coach Kevin McKenna said. "They took control of the game. We couldn't get anything going."
Witt, the tourney MVP, finished with 24 points. Although he had been struggling prior to the tournament having not hit a trey in four straight games, UNO knew going in that they were going to face a focused Witt.
"He's one of those offensive players who never stops moving," UNO forward Dan Morrow said. "He's a great shooter and he's going to knock those open looks down. He hasn't lately, but all good shooters are going to go through their ups and downs."
"He's the second leading scorer at our school so we're probably not going to bench him," Schlagel said about Witt's previous struggles. "He's one of the reasons why we're here so we're going to live and die with him. I told him one night that if he missed the next 40 shots that would be OK, he'd still be playing."
After Schlagel answered that question, Witt responded wryly, "I came pretty close to 40 though."
Witt's fellow senior Kron had another typically strong performance with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Carlson contributed 10 points and nine assists with sixth man Nate Miller also scoring 10.
All four were named to the All-Tournament team along with UNO's Adam Wetzel and Ty Graham and South Dakota State's Austin Hansen.
The feisty Wetzel led the Mavs with 23 points and eight boards. Morrow added 15 (five treys) and Graham chipped in 10.
In Friday's 75-60 thrashing of NDSU, everything went according to plan for St. Cloud. The Huskies jumped out to a 35-25 halftime lead, but ran into some trouble early in the second half. The Bison pulled to within five at 40-35 when forward Shawn Gabbert layed-in an impressive jump-stop, pump-fake move. However, the Huskies responded with a 14-3 run in the next five minutes to boost their lead to 54-38 at the 10:56 mark when Witt connected on a three. The Bison would get no closer than 11 the rest of the game.
The Huskies only shot 41 percent for the game, but they used their 45-28 advantage on the glass to key the win. SCSU also held NDSU's leading scorer Denver TenBroek to only 12 points on five of 17 shooting. Junior guard CoCo Cofield led the herd with 16 points.
The Huskies countered with Miller who led the way with 16 points off the bench. Witt added 14, Carlson 12 and Kron 10.
The wins over UNO and NDSU was the third time SCSU had beaten both teams this season. So the old theory that you can't beat an opponent three times in a season was definitely proven wrong in the 2003 NCC tournament.
Around the Rim
-McKenna on Alex Carlson: "I think that kid's one of the best I've seen at the college level. He really is a tough, hard-nosed kid who makes plays. He's the best player in the league."
-Schlagel was named Co-NCC Coach of the Year along with SDSU's Scott Nagy. Kron and Witt were named to the All-Conference team. Kron also won Defensive Player of the Year honors for the third time in four years. Carlson was named to the All-NCC Honorable Mention team. In addition, Witt was also named to the All-North Central Region team.
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