Story from http://www.stcloudstate.edu/athletics/

Mankato, Minn. –The No. 16-ranked St. Cloud State men’s basketball team made clutch plays down the stretch to hold off an athletic Metropolitan State University squad 82-77 Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Central Regional tournament in the Bresnan Arena.

"It was a great game between two good teams and the effort by both squads was outstanding. We handled the pressure they put on," said head coach Kevin Schlagel.

Junior captain Taylor Witt (Morris) came through for the Huskies (26-5) for the second consecutive game making two free throws with five seconds to go to put St. Cloud State up 80-77, before junior transfer Nate Phillips (Rosemount) made the biggest play of his Husky career.

"It’s neat to see a young man excel in a situation like that. We needed him to come in and help us and that is exactly what he did," Schlagel said.

Phillips stole the ball off the Roadrunner dribble near the Huskies’ bench and took it in for a lay-up to seal coach the second 26-win season in Schlagel’s career.

Junior Josh Ortmann (Buffalo) also came up huge in the final moments of the game for the Huskies. As the shot clock ran down under 10 seconds, Ortmann hit a three pointer with 47.4 seconds to go in the game to take a 71-64 lead to hold off a final rush by Metro State.

The Roadrunners answered with a three point play of their own to make it a 76-72 game with just less than 30 seconds remaining. After a made free throw by St. Cloud State, the Roadrunner’s again answered with a three pointer to make it 77-75 before the Huskies closed out their fourth straight win.

St. Cloud State shot made 29-of-40 free throws in a game that the Huskies scored 32 points in the paint. Witt made 12-of-13 from the free throw line to lead the team.

After a back and forth half of play, the Huskies went into halftime ahead 35-30, but led by as many as eight before a Roadrunner three-pointer at the buzzer.

St. Cloud State shot 42 percent from the field on a 10-for-24 half, while seven Husky players got in on the scoring action. Metro State countered with an 11-for-28 shooting period.

Junior Andrew Bernstetter (St. Joseph) had a big start for the Huskies, scoring 11 points while, becoming St. Cloud State’s all-time blocks leader with the 116th block of his career just 2:39 into the game. He passed Jon Hinzman (1994-98) for the record and finished the half tying his career high with five blocks.
He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and six blocks, while senior Matt Schneck (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) pounded the lane for his 19th double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

St. Cloud State will now take on the No. 1 seeded Minnesota State University Mankato at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night in the Bresnan Arena.

To view the stats, click HERE

To listen to the Metro State postgame press conference, click HERE

To listen to the St. Cloud State postgame press conference, click HERE