Minneapolis, Minn. --- Second-ranked Minnesota State found itself trailing early in the game vs. St. Cloud State and could not find a way to make up the deficit, eventually falling to the Huskies by a margin of 7-2 in the first round of the Mariucci Classic being held in Minneapolis this weekend.

SCSU jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and didn't look back in claiming the nonconference win between the old rivals.

After an initial save by Dryden McKay on Jami Kranilla's shot, Zach Okabe, stationed at the right side of the crease, tapped a loose puck into the net as the Huskies took a 1-0 lead at 5:22 of the opening period. The Huskies made it a 2-0 lead at 16:08 of the first when Okabe was left all alone on the right side of the ice and his shot beat McKay stickside.

At 1:38 of the second, near the end of a power play, Okabe finished off a pass from Nolan Walker, one-timing a shot past McKay on the near side. It became a 4-0 lead two minutes later on a play where Easton Bronzinski jammed a shot over McKay's left shoulder into the net.  Senior winger Parker Toumie's attempted pass was put into the SCSU net by a Husky defenseman at 5:45 of the second to cut into the Huskies' lead.  Later, at 7:17 of the second, Okabe deflected a shot from the point past McKay for his fourth goal of the game. And at 11:25 of the second, a deflection by Jake Wahlin found its way past Jacob Berger, who had replaced McKay in the Minnesota State net, in making it 6-1 SCSU advantage.

The Mavericks continued to fight back and at 7:53, junior defenseman Jack McNeely got his first goal of the season, putting a rebound into the net after Castor had batted the puck out of the air after making a stop on a shot from Josh French. A breakaway goal from SCSU's Micah Miller at 10:38 closed out the scoring in the contest.

The Mavericks, now 15-3-1 overall, were outshot by a 25-18 margin in the contest.

Next action for Minnesota State is tomorrow (Sunday) when it will faces Bemidji State in the third-place game at 4:00 p.m.

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