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Jan. 9—WORTHINGTON — The intensity was high in Wednesday’s anticipated MCAC South division men’s basketball opener between M State Fergus Falls and Minnesota West.
The teams battled in a tough, physical game and the Spartans got the best of the Bluejays in an 89-80 effort that displayed some late-game drama.
Despite trailing by double digits at halftime and for stretches in the second half, the Bluejays never quit, forcing multiple comebacks to eventually make it a two-point game. With under three minutes to play, Bluejay forward Keion Irvin drove to the basket for a layup to tie the game plus what looked to be defensive blocking foul, which would’ve sent him to the free throw line. But it was instead called a charge on Irvin, negating the two points.
The Spartans took momentum from there, sinking late-game free throws to put it away in the final minutes.
Head coach Dan Tharp and his 15th-ranked Bluejays moved to a 14-3 overall record and an 0-1 start in Minnesota College Athletic Conference South division play.
“Shout out to Fergus Falls, they’re a good basketball team,” Tharp said. “They’re well coached, they’re talented, they play hard. They kind of pumped us there in the first half and, you know, great fight. …This was a really good basketball game, I mean, it’s a good college basketball game, good atmosphere to play in the game but we got to get better.”
The game started back and forth knotted at 7-7 before the Spartans went on a 7-0 run to begin pulling away in the first half. They then took a double-digit lead for the first time at the 8:29 mark before a Henry Counsel 3-pointer briefly put it back into single digits. But it didn’t last very long as the Spartans went back up double digits a few times before the end of the half, eventually taking a 38-26 lead into the break.
“I told them the old Mike Tyson quote, I believe, you know, ‘Everybody’s tough until you get punched in the face,’ and how do you respond?” Tharp said about his halftime message to the team. “I…
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Author : The Daily Globe, Worthington, Minn.
Publish date : 2025-01-09 15:19:00
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