It was business as usual for the Minnesota State men’s basketball team, which used some strong runs to upend Augustana 89-81 in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game in front of 3,577 fans Saturday night at Bresnan Arena.
Minnesota State (23-2, 17-2 in Northern Sun) struggled a bit in the early stages before a 29-13 burst to end the first half produced a 41-32 advantage.
Elijah Hazekamp, a 6-foot-5 guard from Sioux City, Iowa, nailed a trio of 3-pointers and a follow-up basket in surge, while senior guard Malik Willingham put through a triple and converted a three-point play off a slicing drive.
Junior guard Justin Eagins chipped in a 3-pointer while 6-8 sophomore forward Malcom Jones tallied a three-point play and a putback. Junior guard Kyreese Willingham and 6-8 forward Dylan Peeters each scored seven points over the opening 20 minutes.
“We have problems recently with slow starts,” said Hazekamp, who ended up with 19 points. “My teammates were finding me at the end of the half, and I was able to knock down some shots. They had a couple guys who could really score and we did all right on them. We need those guys to come in off the bench and bring some energy when we’re not knocking down shots. … We can get hot real quick and stay that way.”
Augustana (14-10, 9-9) came out firing in the second half, trimming the lead to 42-41 on Arhman Lewis’ up-the-gut drive. However, Kyreese Willingham’s second-chance basket, along with Malik Willingham’s top-of-the-key 3, began a 14-2 run which made it 56-43 on junior guard Harrison Braudis’ deflection and fastbreak hoop with 14:15 to go.
“We had open shots over the first 10 minutes, but we just couldn’t hit them,” said Malik Willingham, who finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. “We just kept playing defense and getting one-and-dones. We just stuck together, and we’re a tough team to beat when our shots are falling.
“We’re a very unselfish team with a lot of players who can score. Elijah made some big shots to give us a big boost going into the second half. In my five years here, this is the most energized team we’ve had. It takes all of us to win games and I thank those guys on the bench who keep us going with all that energy.”
Hazekamp drained back-to-back 3-pointers to expand the margin to 76-58 before the Vikings closed the gap 85-78 behind the offensive prowess of senior guard Jadan Graves. Graves connected on 7 of 13 from beyond the arc in scoring a game-high 29 points. Former Springfield standout Isaac Fink totaled 14 points and four rebounds for the Vikings, who also received 10 points each from Lewis and Caden Hinker.
“We’re getting every team’s best shot and our bench really stepped up this weekend,” Mavericks’ coach Matt Margenthaler said. “We looked in stretches like the No. 1 team in the nation. When we’re creating turnovers and getting out in transition, we’re a darn good basketball team.
“We play in spurts, and we can come up with some really good spurts. I though our defense was solid again. Our guys really rebounded and had a lot of tenacity in them tonight. We need to continue to play like that.”
Dylan Peeters scored 16 points for the Mavericks, while Kyreese Willingman totaled 15 points and nine rebounds. Jones contributed seven points and six boards.
Minnesota State plays Saturday at Northern State.