Men’s and women’s basketball seasons tip off

The men picked up a loss and win in Kansas, while the women dropped two in Missouri

The Minnesota State University basketball games were in Kansas and Missouri over the weekend to take on a couple of non-conference foes. The men went 1-1 in their games while the women went 0-2 in the first official games of the year for both squads.

First, the men’s team participated in the NSIC/MIAA Conference Challenge which was held in Pittsburg, Kansas. The first game was against the host team, Pittsburg State.

The first game was close and competitive throughout. The Mavericks came out firing and took a commanding 13-point lead early in the game. MSU controlled the first half of play until the Gorillas stormed back to end the half and take a two-point lead into the locker rooms at halftime with a score of 40-38.

The second half was when Pittsburg State really started asserting themselves. Shortly after the second half started, PSU went on a 28-9 run to take the lead 70-53 with just over nine minutes remaining in the contest.

MSU managed to cut the lead to eight multiple times, but it never got closer than that as the Mavericks fell 90-80. Kevin Krieger led the Mavericks with 24 points.

The next game was against Missouri Southern State. This game featured 11 lead changes and was a nail-biter right down to the end.

The first half was one where the Mavericks absolutely dominated. At one time, the lead was 40-23 in favor of the Mavs, but MSSU cut the lead to 45-34 heading into the locker rooms.

The second half featured a comeback from the Lions to tie the game at 60 with just over eight minutes left. When the game was tied at 78 and MSU missed an opportunity to win the game in the final seconds, the game headed to overtime where the Mavericks eventually won the game. The final score was 91-89 in a high scoring affair.

Senior Charlie Brown led the way for the Mavericks, scoring a team-high 22 points.

The Lady Mavericks were not quite as impressive over the weekend as they dropped both of their contests by a score of 78-65 and 84-60, respectively.

The first game against Washburn featured MSU going into halftime with the lead until they let it slip away in the final two quarters.

The Mavs led for most of the first half and took a 38-31 lead going into halftime.

The second half featured Washburn catching fire. They took their first lead of the ballgame when they went up 45-44 with just under four minutes to play in the third. At the end of three,

Washburn was up 52-49 and had successfully stolen the momentum.

The Ichabods took control when they went on a 5-0 run to increase their lead 59-50 with eight minutes left. MSU could not get any closer and went on to lose the contest, 78-65. Claire Jordan and Claire Ziegler led the scoring for the Mavericks with 16 points each.

As for the game against Pittsburgh State, the Mavericks could never truly control the contest. By the end of the first, the Gorrillas had a 23-13 lead as the Mavericks struggled to hit shots from the field. At the half, PSU lead MSU 41-23 and failed to pick up their game in the second half, losing 84-60. Ashley Reed led the scoring for Minnesota State, posting up 14 points.

The Lady Mavs next game is at the Taylor Center against Black Hills State on Tuesday while the men play back-to-back games in California this weekend against Dominican and Fresno Pacific.