WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State men's basketball team won its season opener 92-62 over Wisconsin Lutheran Saturday afternoon in McCown Gymnasium.
Kyle Bauman tied a career high with 21 points, set a career high with 12 rebounds and shot 10-of-17 from the field with a 3-pointer in 24 minutes of action.
Winona State shot well, hitting 57 percent from the field (35-of-61) while holding WLC to 42 percent (24-of-57). WSU was efficient from long range as well, hitting six of its 14 shots, while Wisconsin Lutheran made five of 20 shots from distance.
WLC hung with the Warriors early, trailing just 8-6 three minutes into the game, but Bauman's 3-pointer put the Warriors up 11-6 which sparked a quick 7-0 run to put WSU up 15-6 at the first media timeout. A 3-point play from Conrad Masberg gave WSU a double-digit lead at 23-13 at the 10-minute mark and Bauman baskets on three consecutive possessions – the last resulting in a dunk – late in the first half gave the Warriors a 40-26 advantage. Bauman hit one final layup at the first half buzzer for his 17th point of the half and put the Warriors up 42-30 heading in to the break.
WSU used a 10-0 spurt in a 2:22 span to start the second half increased WSU's lead to 52-30. After WLC kept lead in the teens for an extended period, Josh Mongan hit his first 3-pointer of the season with 8:46 to play to get WSU's lead back to 67-47 and WSU cruised to the 92-62 win.
Senior Conrad Masberg turned in a good performance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting with five rebounds in just 15 minutes of playing time. Fellow senior Mark Blacklock, along with true freshman Connor Flack, each contributed nine points.
Winona State (1-0) heads west to California to face a trio of opponents, beginning Tuesday with a 9 p.m. (CST) matchup against UC San Diego in La Jolla, California.
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