WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State men's basketball team shot better than 50 percent for the second straight night, earning an 80-69 win over Sioux Falls Saturday night in front of 1,337 fans in McCown Gym.
The Warriors were led by junior Isaiah Gray, who had his best game of the season with a 25-point performance on 8-of-9 shooting and made 8-of-10 free throws. Gray also led the Warriors with seven rebounds and had three assists and three steals.
Kyle Bauman helped the Warriors get off to a fast start, scoring 14 of his 20 points in the first half. His 3-pointer early on gave WSU a 5-3 lead before Blacklock hit one of his own to get WSU out to an 8-3 advantage. Bauman made it 7 points in four and a half minutes and later had 10 points on a 3-pointer with 13:39 to play in the first half as WSU led 13-7.
A 7-0 run from the Cougars briefly gave them back the lead at 19-17, but Bauman threw down a dunk off Bambenek's fifth assist of the half to tie it up and Bauman's jumper on the next possession – his 14th and final point of the half – gave WSU the lead for good.
A 3-point play from Blacklock finished what Bauman started and WSU had a 7-0 run. After USF got it back to a one point deficit at 26-25, WSU went on a 9-0 spurt helped by a layup and jumper from Charlie Koontz, a 3-pointer from Bambenek and capped off with a layup from Gray to take a 10-point lead at 37-37 with under a minute to play as WSU went into the locker room enjoying a 39-31 lead.
The Cougars slowly chipped away at WSU's lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half before getting it just two points with a Kebu Johnson free throw at the 9:40 mark to bring the score to 52-50. But Josh Mongan answered with a 3-pointer and WSU rebuilt their double digit lead en route to the 80-69 win.
Blacklock finished the evening with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting and a 3-pointer on his only attempt. Mongan, meanwhile, added 11 points for the third straight game.
Bambenek, despite only scoring five points, dished out a game-best seven assists with four rebounds.
Winona State (3-4, 2-1 NSIC) hits the road next weekend, taking on Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m.
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