Way back last October I picked Minnesota State Moorhead to win the NSIC men’s basketball title this year. They started 11-2 but then injuries set in and 5 straight losses in January. Their returning guards from last year’s 25-6, 18-4 team, JaMir Price and Jacob Beeninga, both went down, Price after 6 games with 14 ppg, Beeninga 5 games later with a 19 ppg average. So Moorhead activated freshman guard Carson Johnson from redshirt and he has blossomed, averaging 20 ppg. He started last night against Concordia St. Paul, played 38 minutes and scored 24 points. But, Beeninga is back, though with limited minutes. He came off the bench to play 21 minutes and score 22 points. Price will not be back.
So, now, there’s a 5-way logjam at the top of the NSIC men’s basketball standings. And, yet, Moorhead may be the best team in the conference and the favorite to win the post-season title despite their injury marred season and their 6th place position right now.
Everything is exactly the opposite at Concordia St. Paul. No injuries, according to a CSP partisan sitting next to me. Last year Antwan Kimmons played just 8 games and Japannah Kellogg missed a bunch of games. And, so, the Bears went 10-18, 5-17 in the conference. What a difference a year makes. Kimmons, a senior guard from Tartan, is scoring 25 ppg and is a national player of the year nominee. Concordia came into last night’s game alone in 1st place at 14-5 and at home.
But, now, they’re 14-6, as are Minnesota State Mankato, St. Cloud State, Southwest MN State and Winona State. Moorhead is just one game back, tied with Minnesota-Duluth. Four of them will get a 1st round bye in the NSIC playoffs which kick off in just about 10 days.
Moorhead just over-powered CSP, jumping out to a 10-0 lead and never, ever trailing. Moorhead bigs Jacob Jennissen and Shaun Wysocki outscored CSP’s bigs Cade Meyer and Kellogg 31-16, and Moorhead had a rebounding edge of 37-27. Moorhead’s physical defense frustrated CSP, and the Bears never really felt like they were on a run. Moorhead led 49-41 at the half. The lead dwindled to 3 in the middle of the 2nd half, but soon was back to 10. CSP got within 5 at 84-79 at 1:16 but couldn’t get a stop. Kimmons led all scorers with 27 points.
Looking Ahead
CSP has the easiest road to a share of the NSIC regular season title and the #1 seed in the post-season. They’re 14-6 with games remaining at Bemidji and Crookston, who have won just 11 games between them. Mankato and Winona have the toughest road, literally going on the road to Moorhead and St. Cloud. In between are Southwest State, who plays at Mary and Northern, and St. Cloud, who gets those 2 very tough opponents, Mankato and Winona, but gets them at home. Moorhead and UMD have to make up one game, but could still get a share of the title, too, though it seems likely that somebody, or more likely 2 or 3 teams, will finish with those 6 losses.
Moorhead is the hot team at 5-0 in February. Mankato and UMD are 5-1, St. Cloud and Winona 4-1, CSP 3-2 and Southwest State just 2-3.
Still, I think CSP and Southwest State will win out to get the #1 and #2 seeds. Mankato and St. Cloud will each split a pair to get the #3 and #4 seeds and the 3rd and 4th 1st round bye, while UMD and Moorhead will win out and claim #5 and #6, At least they get their 1st game at home before everything shifts to the Denny in Sioux Falls. Right now, a possible 2nd round game between Mankato and Moorhead looks like a doozy.
What a beautiful mess.