Last night was the infamous Hawaiian Night basketball game at Southwest Minnesota State vs Winona State. It delivered one of the greatest basketball game I have ever seen in person. Let's start out with the atmosphere. The student section is always huge for the annual Hawaiian Night. With around 2000 drunk college students, the home court advantage was at a max. Before tip off, chants such as, U.S.A. and We Aren't That Drunk provide a preview for how crazy this student section would be. Not to mention the whole student section started singing the National Anthem faster than the singer. The first half was a fairly even battle between the two teams. With SMSU utilizing their inside game to their advantage (0-8 from 3 point range) and Winona State shooting only 4-15 from three point range, the Mustangs went into halftime with a 6 point lead. It also helped that the Mustangs shut down Winona State's Anthony Tucker as he went 0-5 in the first half. Tucker used to play basketball at Iowa. He averaged over 10 points a game his freshman year, but he had a couple alcohol violations that got him suspended and eventually transfering. With a group of guys in the student section familiar with his history, they started the chant "Alcoholic" several times after he scored. The second half got underway and it was more of the same. The student section died down in the second half. The students lost their focus and half of them didn't even know there was a game going on. We kept the battle going. The Mustangs were running out of steam fast and the Warriors were taking advantage. SMSU led by 12 at one point, but didn't make a single field goal in the last 7 minutes of the second half. With 1:22 left, up by nine, the Warriors make a remarkable comeback that no one saw coming. They ended up tying the game and a last second shot by Jordan Miller, Mike Miller's cousin, hitting the front of the rim and out. This game was headed to overtime. Nothing too exciting happening in OT. Tucker hits 2 threes to keep the Warriors in the game. A tightly guarded 3 point shot by the Warrior was short and the game was headed into double overtime. Although SMSU scored first, after that it was a game of catch up by the Mustangs. Having to resort to fouling with a minute left, the crowd could tell this game was over. The Warriors sunk their free throws when it mattered and pulled off an amazing comeback to beat the SMSU Mustangs on Hawaiian Night. I have to admit it was a well played game by the Warriors. Good teams find a way to win and they proved that they were never out of the game. They beat the Mustangs earlier in the season on a last second 3 point shot by Anthony Tucker. Although both teams played as hard as they could for all 50 minutes, the Warriors were the ones headed home with the victory. Although they didn't win, I was still impressed with how hard the Mustangs played. S-M-S-U, Go Mustangs!!!!
Other Notes:
-SMSU shot 3-16 in the overtimes
-Points in the paint, SMSU 40, WSU 24
-Second chance points, SMSU 11, WSU 22
-Fast break points, SMSU 12, WSU 2
-Lavione West, SMSU, missed 5 free throws in a row in the second half.
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