WINONA, Minn. - The Winona State men's basketball team opened their 2024-25 season with an exhibition game against Saint Mary's University, an NCAA Division III school in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), winning 79-72.
The Cardinals and seventh year head coach Joe Fano are coming off an 8-17 year going 7-13 in the MIAC. The Cardinals kept with the Warriors in a game that saw 16 lead changes and five ties in the game.
How it happened:
With a load of new players on this year's Winona State roster, head coach
Todd Eisner got to showcase a first look of the team in front of a big home crowd inside McCown Gymnasium. At the first media timeout the Warriors saw themselves up 13-11 with a couple of early buckets from
Connor Drew. After a few SMU baskets, Winona State would see themselves down 23-19 at the 9:32 minutes mark left in the first half. A pair of layups from
Tyler Mason and
Luke Haertle would put WSU back up one point late in the second half, but Saint Mary's would respond with a pair of three pointers to tie the game going into the half at 40-40.
As the second half went under way,
Connor Drew knocked down an early three-pointer as well as a post up bucket for the Warriors to help lead them gain some traction against the Cardinals. Responding right away would be the Cardinals with Owen Ziegler knocking down three straight three's keeping them in the game. A couple hard earned points from
Isaiah Thompson and
Luke Haertle would put the Warriors up 58-66 with 10 minutes left in the game. The Cardinals would not go away putting the game within a point at 68-69 before Thompson and Haertle would lead the Warriors on a 10-4 run to finish the game with the Warriors winning 79-72.
Individual Leaders:
- Senior Connor Drew led the Warriors with 24 points on 9-16 shooting and 2-5 from three-point distance.
- Luke Haertle chipped in 18 points on 8-12 shooting and a team high nine rebounds.
- Haertle would also lead the team in assists with five.
- Owen Ziegler would lead the Cardinals with 23 points on 7-14 shooting from beyond the arc.
- Isaiah Thompson would chip in 13 points and seven rebounds.
Team Comparison:
- Saint Mary's would shoot 44.6% from the field and 42.9% from beyond the arc compared to the Warriors 47.6% from the field and 27.8% from 3pt range.
- The turnover battle would be fairly even with Winona State forcing 11 turnovers with the Cardinals forcing 10 for the Warriors.
- WSU would out rebound SMU 38-23.
- There would be 16 lead changes and five ties in the game.
Winona State will being regular season play on Friday, November 8 at 5pm where they face off against Pittsburg State University in the Central Region Challenge down in Kansas City, Mo.Â
