Morris, MN - MLC men's basketball went on the road Friday evening to take on the UM-Morris Cougars for their second meeting of the 2023 season. The first matchup was an 87-63 loss for MLC in a game that featured multiple flagrant fouls from both teams. The Knights gave the Cougars a competitive first half of basketball in the second matchup sticking within single-digits of UM-Morris heading into halftime. However, the Cougars would go on to shoot 50 percent (10-20) from beyond the arc in the second half and used that efficient shooting to march past the Knights
100-74.
The Knights had some positive offensive production in the first half and went on a 9-1 run to retake the lead from UM-Morris at the 3:04 mark after a baseline jumper from
Micah Kieselhorst. MLC would continue to shoot the ball well and ended the first half with a
Sam Hansen 3-pointer to cut their deficit to six points with 23 seconds left in the first half. The Cougars would answer that 3-pointer with one of their own from
Jaret Johnson, who capped off his 21-point first half performance with the buzzer beater to put his team up 49-40 at the break.
UM-Morris picked up where they left the first half off by knocking down consecutive perimeter shots to give them a 56-40 lead in the first few minutes of the second half. The Cougars then went on a 14-0 run to further separate themselves from the Knights. The scoring run was highlighted by four
Noah Kannegiesser triples in a two-minute stretch from all areas of the 3-point line. The guard followed up his 20- point performance last time out against the Knights with 26 points and shot 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from 3-point territory.
The Knights struggled to get much going offensively from the perimeter in the second half and shot 13.3 percent (2-of-13), after going 7-of-12 on 58.3 percent in the first half. MLC did receive a solid game from
Seth Veers who had eight points, six rebounds, and five assists, while Kieselhorst led the Knights in scoring with 13 points.
MLC (2-20, 0-11) remains winless in conference play after the loss to UM-Morris, but will look to change that when they play Crown on Saturday, February 11 at 3 p.m.
