by Tom Froemming
February 08, 2005
One was the loneliest number for the MSU men's basketball team Saturday night. The Mavericks entered the game as the No. 1 ranked team in Division II and the lone player to bring his "A" game for the Mavs was senior forward Jamel Staten. The St. Cloud State Huskies boasted five double-digit scorers and beat MSU 89-76 in front of more than 5,200 fans.
"I thought it would make us play better, knowing that we we're No. 1, but it made St. Cloud play better ... their crowd got into it," Staten said.
Staten finished the game with 26 points -- including MSU's first 12 of the game -- and a season-high 17 rebounds. The only other player able to complement Staten offensively was senior guard Joe Williams who scored 12 points.
"Jamel had a great game," MSU head coach Matt Margenthaler said. "We were riding him the whole night."
Senior guard Andy Moeller and junior forward Luke Anderson combined for just 14 points and connected on just five of 21 shots, a 23,8 shooting percentage. The two have combined to score 28.5 points per game on the season. Moeller drained two late three pointers last week against South Dakota to propel MSU to victory, but missed all eight of his shots from behind the arc Saturday. Anderson is currently on a cold streak, averaging 11 points and shooting 40 percent in his last four games.
"Teams are starting to get really physical with [Anderson] and he's not doing a great job of responding right now," Margenthaler said. "The last three games he has kind of disappeared for us, so we need him to pick it up."
Staten's 19 first-half points kept MSU in the game as they went into halftime down 38-34. The Mavs couldn't hold on for long due to SCSU's robust 59.1 shooting percentage in the second half. The Huskies shot 52.7 percent in the game, while MSU shot 40.9 percent. The Mavericks out-rebounded SCSU 44-30, but turned the ball over 19 times compared to SCSU's 10.
"I'll take all the blame in the world. I guess we weren't ready to play and our kids need to be ready to play. That's my job to get them ready," Margenthaler said.
The loss drops MSU's record to 19-3. The Mavericks are 10-0 in the Taylor Center, but have struggled on the road.
"We can't make the mental mistakes we make on the road," Margenthaler said. "Sometimes you can get away with those at home, but when you go on the road you can't get away with those type of mistakes."
