ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Wachs Arena at Northern State University developed a reputation as one of the toughest places to earn a win as the visiting team in NCAA Division II men's basketball, but Winona State did just that on Saturday, Jan. 22, beating the Wolves 83-74 in front of 3,463 fans.
Alec Rosner once again rose to the occasion, leading all scorers with 25 points in the contest, and enjoyed a strong supporting cast that did almost everything right on the night. Warrior teammate
Connor Drew scored 23 points and the pair combined for a 7-of-13 effort from behind the arc.
Winona State wore down a Wolves program that had won three straight coming into the contest - including a 90-81 victory over #13 Upper Iowa the evening before - with tough defense, timely shooting, and calm nerves down the stretch.
As a team, WSU shot 55.6% from the floor and were 48.1% from 3-point territory. The Winona State non-starters outscored the NSU bench 17 – 9, with
Connor Dillon collecting nine points in 19 minutes of Warrior work as a sub.
Devin Whitelow was the maestro of much of the scoring, with 10 assists in the game and had the second-best WSU rebounding night with five boards, just behind Rosner's six. Whitelow's 10 helpers were a season-high by an individual and were just two shy of his career-best 12, earned in a Dec. 7, 2018 contest against Augustana.
Head coach
Todd Eisner and his team led 33-27 at halftime following a first 20 minutes in which the Warrior defense held the home team to just a 34.4% field goal mark. WSU also forced NSU into a sub-par 3-for-12 effort from behind the 3-point line in the first half, a key component of the Winona State advantage at the break.
The thinnest of margins separated the teams in the late stages of the second half as Northern State surged with a 10-point run to level the score at 60-60 with just over five minutes to play.
At that stage however, all Warriors named Connor decided to be the difference in the game, as
Connor Drew and
Connor Dillon combined to score the next 14 Warrior points, with
Connor Drew also nabbing a key steal in that timeframe to help WSU pull away from the Wolves.
Forced to foul, Northern State sent Whitelow, Rosner and
Luke Martens to the charity stripe in the final 90 seconds where WSU knocked down six of nine attempts to ice the game, appropriately known as the "I Hate Winter" festivities featured by NSU between January 20-22.
Like Winona State, Northern State also had two players break the 20-point plateau, with Sam Masten scoring 22 and Jacksen Moni, 21 on the evening.
For Winona State, the impressive win moves the Warrior record to 11-6 overall, 7-5 in NSIC play. NSU falls to 13-9, 7-7 in the NSIC.
For the most up-to-date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit:
www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and
@WinonaStateATH.
About Winona State University Athletics:
The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words: Graduate Champions.
Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Winona State University competes as an affiliate member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in the sport of women's gymnastics
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