by Dax Larson
December 06, 2005
All good things must come to an end.
For the MSU men's basketball team, it was a 26-game home winning streak against nonconference opponents. A 75-68 loss to No. 21 Winona State was the first loss to a nonconference team since November 2001. The Mavericks are now 4-3 on the season with two losses to Winona.
The big men led the Mavericks on offense and defense in the loss to the Warriors. Senior Chris Whitfield recorded his first double-double of his career with 10 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Senior Rueben Trotter made his second consecutive start for MSU and proved he deserved the spot. Trotter put up 15 points in 27 minutes and added eight rebounds.
“They gave us everything they had tonight,” head basketball coach Matt Margenthaler said. “We needed others to step up.”
Senior Luke Anderson continued his streak of 20-plus points every game this season with 20 points in 40 minutes. Anderson may have scored 20 points, but he also shot 7-23 from the field and 1-9 from behind the arc. He also had six turnovers— the most he has had in a game this year.
“He will have those nights,” Margenthaler said. “He is our leader and we will continue to go to him.”
MSU and WSU were tied at 8-8 four minutes into the game, but the Warriors went on a 9-0 run to take the lead. The Mavericks were able to get within two on four occasions, but ended the half down four. Anderson had 14 points and one turnover in the first half. Both teams had a high shooting percentage, WSU had 53.1 and MSU had 50. The Warriors had five 3-pointers in the first half and MSU had two.
“I'm disappointed,” Whitfield said. “We had a lot of chances.”
In the second half, MSU took the lead at 46-44 for the first time since being up 8-6 in the first four minutes of the game. With the game tied at 47 with 14 minutes left, the game looked like it was going to be a battle to the end. But, MSU only scored two points in the next six minutes. With 38 seconds left, the Mavericks were able to get the game back within one point with a 3-pointer by junior Tony Thomason. MSU was forced to foul and WSU was able to make both free throws. The Mavericks were forced to take another 3-pointer and they went to Anderson. Unfortunately for MSU, the shot was short and a scrum for the rebound turned into a dunk for WSU which ended the game for MSU. A poor shooting half by both teams decreased the percentages to 43.3 for the Warriors and 39.1 for the Mavericks. Seven first half 3-pointers between the two teams turned into two total 3s in the second half.
“We need to stay focused on offense and defense for a full 40 minutes,” Trotter said. “We need it from the start or we will have losses like that.”
MSU will continue its nonconference home stand today against Concordia-St. Paul at the Taylor Center starting at 7 p.m. The Mavericks will also play Thursday at 7 p.m. against Southwest Minnesota State.
Dax Larson is a Reporter staff writer
