MANKATO, Minn. – Down 20 points with under nine minutes to play, the Winona State men's basketball team mounted a furious comeback but fell one point short in a 78-77 loss to rival Minnesota State Friday night in front of 1,566 spectators at the Taylor Center in Mankato.
The Warriors trailed by 20, 62-42, at the media timeout with 9:04 left in the game before Riley Bambenek helped spark the impressive rally. Mark Blacklock hit a layup with 8:47 left to begin the run, followed by a 3-pointer from Bambenek , another layup from Blacklock and another triple from Bambenek. In just two minutes, WSU had put together a 10-0 run and cut the lead to 62-52.
Another 3-pointer from Bambenek – who tied a career high with six in the game, four of which were in the second half – cut it to single digits for the first time since the 3:19 mark of the first half. But the Mavericks pushed the lead back to 10 on three occasions up until the 4:19 mark, when MSU led 69-59. But Corey Jeffs answered with a 3-point shot to again cut it to seven and a Kyle Bauman layup cut it to five with 3:17 to play. A Josh Mongan 3-pointer and later a Bauman jumper cut it to four points on each occasion and the Warriors made it a one-possession game on another Bambenek 3-pointer with just over a minute that cut the score to 75-72.
Mongan would later miss a 3-point opportunity to tie with 30 seconds left, but a pair of Jeffs free throws cut it to 76-74. The Mavericks iced it with a pair of free clutch free throws with six seconds left as a Mongan 3-pointer at the buzzer was good, but not enough as WSU came up one point short in the 78-77 defeat.
The big comeback came after a tough shooting night for the first 30 minutes. The Warriors fell behind 18-7 to start the game, hitting just three of their first 19 shots, but managed to keep it within seven late in the first half before MSU built their lead back up to 15 at the half.
WSU shot just 28 percent in the first half (9-of-32) while Minnesota State shot an even 50 percent (14-of-28). The Warriors rebounded to finish the game shooting at a 44 percent clip, while MSU finished at 49 percent. Both teams took good care of the basketball, with WSU committing nine turnovers while the Mavericks had eight.
Bambenek finished with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including an efficient 6-of-8 from 3-point distance. He came just a rebound shy of a double-double, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Bauman added 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting along with seven rebounds and was 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
Jeffs added 12 points and five rebounds, while Mongan and Blacklock each had eight.
Winona State (4-5, 3-2 NSIC) closes out 2015 Saturday when it hosts Upper Iowa for a 4 p.m. tipoff inside McCown Gymnasium.
