ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Winona State men's basketball team fell to St. Cloud State 65-56 Friday night in Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud.

WSU's road struggles continued, as the Warriors tied a season-high with 20 turnovers while making just six of 29 shots long range (21 percent) and shooting 37 percent (22-of-59) from the field overall.

The Warriors appeared ready in the first half, though, shooting 50 percent (13-of-26) while Isaiah Gray scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the opening 20 minutes.

Riley Bambenek gave the Warriors an early 4-2 lead with a jumper less than two minutes in, but the sophomore finished 2-of-11 from the field en route to just five points. Gray scored his first points of the game on a layup to tie the score at 6-6, and after a layup by Conrad Masberg, a Gray 3-pointer gave WSU an 11-10 lead at the 15-minute mark. Gray then scored back-to-back layups followed by a 3-pointer as part of 10 straight WSU points and 12 of 14 to keep the Warriors close at 20-18. Another Gray 3-pointer knotted the game up at 25-25 with six minutes to play in the half, but SCSU countered with an 8-0 run and increased their lead to 12 on a Scottie Stone layup with 14 seconds to play before Nick Arenz converted a 3-point play to keep it a nine-point game at 39-30 headed into the locker room.

The second half would not be kind to the Warriors, as the team made just three of 20 attempts from 3-point range and shot just 27 percent from the field in the half.

Despite the struggles, St. Cloud State was never able to fully pull away. Tim Wagner hit a 3-point shot five minutes into the half that brought the score to 45-39, but the Huskies went on another 8-0 run to open up their largest lead of the game, a 14-point, 53-39 advantage. But a Bambenek 3-pointer, followed by a pair of free throws and a layup by Gray made it a quick 7-0 WSU run to cut it back to a 53-46 Husky lead with 9:50 to play.

WSU was unable to cut it any closer thanks to a six-minute shooting drought that let the Huskies build back a 13-point lead before a Corey Jeffs layup made it 59-48 with 3:49 to play, but the Warriors would get no closer than nine the rest of the way as St. Cloud State claimed the 65-56 win.

The Warriors managed a slight 39-37 rebounding edge of the Huskies and dished out one more assist and one more steal. Jeffs finished just shy of a double-double, scoring nine points while grabbing nine rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

Winona State (11-10, 8-9 NSIC) returns to action Saturday when they travel to Minnesota Duluth to take on the Bulldogs at 6 p.m. in Romano Gym.