Suffocating defense powers Huskies over Lubbock Christian in season opener – St. Cloud State University

Canyon, Texas – St. Cloud State Men’s Basketball (1-0) opened its season Saturday afternoon against Lubbock Christian University in the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic and cruised to a 69-56 victory behind impressive defense. The teams battled back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the half before the Huskies went on a glorious 17-2 run over the final 7:53 of the first half to take a 40-22 lead into the break. St. Cloud State got it going on both ends in the first half, limiting the Chaps to just 29 percent from the field and 18 percent from three. Offensively, the Huskies shot 53% from the field and 54% from beyond the arc. While LCU turned up the intensity in the second half, the Chaps could never get within 13 points of the Huskies. St. Cloud State countered every run Lubbock Christian threw their way with a run of their own. The Huskies would pick up their first win of the season with a 69-56 win.

Top Huskies

• Keenan Philip led the Huskies in scoring for the game with 15 points while shooting 6/11 from the field and 3/7 from three. Philip also had seven rebounds, three assists and one steal.
• Jamie Allen picked up where he left off last season, scoring 14 points on 6/9 shooting and making two of his three three-point attempts. Allen also dished out three assists and grabbed two rebounds.
• Luke Winkel scored 10 points off the bench while dishing out four assists in 24 minutes of action.

Famous people

• St. Cloud State moves to 1-0 all-time against Lubbock Christian University.
• The Huskies led the game in field goal percentage (45.8-34.8), three-pointers made (10-4), three-point percentage (45.5-16), defensive rebounds (28-25), assists (12 -5), blocks (4-2) and fastbreak points (12-10).
• Wyatt Hawks set a career high with 12 rebounds while scoring four points and blocking two shots.
• Lucas Morgan and Nate Dahl each scored 10 points. Morgan shot 4/7 from the field while making one of his two three-point attempts. Dahl shot 4/6 and made two 3-pointers while grabbing three rebounds.
• Anish Ramlal recorded two shares while scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds.
• Keenan Philip, Luke Winkel, Lee Marks III, Nathan Bunkosky, Isaac Nealand Amos Harvey all played in their first career games for the Huskies.

Next up

St. Cloud State will be back in action tomorrow afternoon as they play Missouri Western State at 1:30 p.m. For all the latest on St. Cloud State men’s basketball, stay tuned to scsuhuskies.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.