MANKATO, Minn. - The Winona State University men's basketball team headed to Mankato to take on Minnesota State in their final regular season road trip of the 2022-23 campaign, needing a victory over the Mavericks to keep NSIC postseason play a possibility.
In a closely contested NSIC South battle that went down to the wire, the Warriors fell to the Mavericks, 67-65.
Minnesota State held a 32-27 lead at the break but WSU chipped away at the Maverick advantage and pulled ahead at 46-43 on a
Devon Fielding 3-pointer with just under nine minutes to go in the second half.
However, the home side would respond with a pair of six-point runs to pull back ahead the rest of the way. Winona State would climb to within two points at 63-61 and 23 seconds to go, but a
Connor Dillon free throw did not go the way of the Warriors. MSU knocked down four free throws of their own in the waning moment to close out the contest.
Winona State had three players reach double-digits, with
Connor Dillon scoring 20 points, while
James Kelley added 12 and
Connor Drew had 10.
Declan Dillon led the WSU offense with six assists and hauled in a team-high nine rebounds.
Overall, as a team, Winona State was 23-of-51 (45.1%) overall and 6-of-21 (28.6%) from three-point territory. WSU was 13-of-22 (59.1%) from the free throw line.
The Mavericks were paced by Malik Willingham with 25 points. Kyreese Willingham had seven boards for Minnesota State, as they improve to 17-10 overall, 11-10 in the NSIC.
Winona State will take the court on Senior Day, Saturday, Feb. 18, in their final regular season contest, taking on the Concordia, St. Paul Golden Bears. WSU and CSP are set for a 1pm start in McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court.
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.
