WINONA, MINN. – Despite 19 points and seven rebounds from senior guard Charles Ward, the University of Sioux Falls men's basketball team (7-8, 4-5 NSIC) dropped a 79-64 decision to Winona State (6-7, 3-6 NSIC) at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minn., on Friday night.
WSU's Corey Jeffs was a one-man wrecking crew by scoring 22 of his 29 points in the second half to lift the Warriors to the win. He hit 7-of-8 three-pointers, including 6-of-6 in the second half. Overall, Jeffs hit 11-of-15 from the field as he helped WSU snap a four-game losing streak. With the win, Winona State drew a split with the Cougars, which ran past the Warriors, 76-54 in Sioux Falls in December. Aside from Jeffs, WSU received 15 points from Riley Bambenek and 13 from Kyle Bauman.
Besides Ward, the Cougars received 12 points from sophomore guard Mack Johnson, who hit 5-of-9 from the field. Freshman point guard Zach Wessels had a career-best eight points for the Cougars. Of note about Ward, he scored double figures for the 31st straight game, including 15 consecutive games in 2014.
“We were right there in the second half (down 49-44 with 10 minutes left) but they were shooting well and our guys didn't do enough defensively to stem the tide in the second half,” said USF head men's basketball coach Chris Johnson. “I thought our effort was fine but our execution on defense wasn't there. Moving forward, we have to tighten up defensively and find a way to score more on offense. Tonight, things just snowballed on us. We were fighting at the end. We were trying hard but had too many unforced errors and things just didn't go our way,” he said.
With a 21-7 run late in the first half, the Warriors grabbed a 10-point halftime lead at 41-31 and never trailed again. The Cougars drew within 49-44 with 10:43 to play. Then Jeffs took over by scoring WSU's next 17 points for a 66-49 lead with 6:12 left. Later, Jeffs' hit his final three-pointer of the game as WSU built the lead to 71-53 at the 5:01 mark.
On the night, USF hit 45.5 percent from the field on 25-of-55 shooting. The Cougars, which won the rebound battle, 31-27, hit 4-of-19 for 21.1 percent from three-point range and 10-of-16 from the free throw line for 62.5 percent. Meanwhile, the home standing Warriors were hot from the field. They hit 31-of-53 from the field for 58.3 percent. Led by Jeffs, WSU hit 12-of-21 from three-point range for 57.1 percent. In the second half alone, Winona State knocked down 7-of-11 from distance.
Early in the first half, Tom Aase and Ward led the Cougars to a lead. Aase had a jumper and an offensive putback as USF built an 8-5 lead with 16:45 to go. Later, Ward, hit a three-pointer with about 15 minutes left for a 13-7 lead. The Warriors took its first lead of the game (16-15) at 13:05 after a three pointer by Mark Blacklock, who scored nine points on the night. USF grabbed the lead back at 19-16 on a three from Ward but WSU rebounded and took a 20-19 lead (8:49) on a layup by Jeffs. After Johnson's three-pointer gave USF a 24-20 lead with 7:46 to play, Bambenek had a pair of three's to key an 11-0 run for WSU and a 31-24 lead with 4:41 to play. Eventually the Warriors built the lead to 10 (41-31) at the break. Ward led USF with 11 points while Bambenek had 10 for WSU.
After Bambenek's three gave WSU a 44-31 lead in the second half, the Cougars had a 13-5 run to draw within 49-44 with 10:43 left in 2nd half. Then, Jeffs took over. He hit back-to-back 3's to build the lead back to 11 points at 55-44 with 9:02 left second half. It was the beginning of Jeffs' 17-point foray as the Warriors took control of the game. Jeffs' 22-point second half explosion was too much for the Cougars to overcome in falling to 1-3 on the road in NSIC play.
On Saturday, the Cougars will face Upper Iowa at 6 p.m. at Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette, Iowa. On December 5 at the Stewart Center, Upper Iowa defeated USF, 82-66.
