The Cougars knocked down 16 three-pointers and shot better than 50 percent from behind the arc in a 102-72 victory over the LumberJacks.
ASHLAND, Wis.– The University of Minnesota Morris men’s basketball team came out on fire, digging a deep hole for Northland College and cruising to a 102-72 road win to improve its record to 6-8 (2-2 UMAC). The Cougars finished the night with 16 made three-pointers, tied for the fourth-most in a single game in program history.
In a fitting opening for what was to come, Minnesota Morris scored 24 of its first 25 points from behind the arc, hitting eight triples in less than nine minutes of action to jump out to a 25-16 lead. Jaret Johnson made the first two of the night to stake the Cougars to a 6-0 lead and later added a third in that stretch. Noah Kannegiesser had the final two, including one that started a 12-0 run for UMN Morris to extend its margin out to 34-16.
The outside shooting of the Cougars freed up the paint for a variety of finishes down low the remainder of the half and a Will McBee offensive rebound and putback at the buzzer gave Minnesota Morris a 52-37 halftime lead.
An 11-3 start to the second half extended the Minnesota Morris lead to 63-40 and was capped off by a three-point play from Pal Dak. The Cougars continued to surge, taking their first 30-point lead of the game at 75-45 on another triple from Kannegiesser. A brief comeback from Northland that trimmed its deficit to 23 points was answered by an 8-0 run from UMN Morris that was started and finished by three-pointers from Dillon Haider to make it 87-56.
With just a few minutes to play, a tough, twisting finish down low from Maverick Conn pushed the Cougars to the century mark and a jumper from Jarrett Kujava moments later gave Minnesota Morris its largest lead of the night at 102-66.
Johnson finished the night with a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds, game highs in both categories. Kannegiesser added 16 points and Pal Dak had 15. Haider and Tath Dak both ended with 11 points and Ian Carlin was a sixth Cougar in double-digits with 10 points.
With tomorrow’s scheduled game at UW-Superior postponed, Minnesota Morris is next in action on Jan. 21, hosting Bethany Lutheran College at 7:15 p.m.
