Back To The Future: A Division II Dynasty

[jksander]

December 13, 1939
#1 Winona State (10-0) @ Bemidji State (3-5)

The Beavers held us in a 3-3 tie for four minutes or so, then we broke it wide open. Up 25-8 with 10:46 to play, we cranked up the defense and put the hammer down. By halftime we led 42-20 and had the Beavers running for cover. They never made it a close one in the second half either, as we blasted our way to another easy win, 85-57.

Player of the Game: Roy Wright (13 pts 11 reb 1 ast 7 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Soward (25 pts 1 reb) Rickey James (13 pts 8 reb 1 ast)
 
December 21, 1939
#1 Winona State (11-0) @ #5 Kentucky Wesleyan (9-2)

We took our first lead on Wesleyan with 14:15 to go in the half, as a Steve Booth triple put us ahead 10-8. And though the Panthers couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives over the next seven minutes, they did play good enough defense to still be within nine, down 23-14, with 7:10 to play. But once our shots really started to fall they were quickly out of this one. We led 44-22 at the half and had held the Panthers to 30 percent shooting from the floor while forcing 12 turnovers! Wesleyan fought back in the second half and played much better all-around basketball, but we’d built such a solid lead we weren’t about to be overtaken. We won this one easily in the end, 82-66 to remain undefeated.

Player of the Game: Steve Booth (23 pts 2 reb 6 ast 2 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Soward (23 pts 6 reb) Rickey James (13 pts 15 reb 1 ast 1 blk)

Heading into the final week of non-conference play, we and UT Permian Basin (11-0) are the only two undefeated teams left in Division II basketball. Sioux Falls (11-2) and Saginaw Valley State (8-3) are #3 and #5 respectively, making our conference quite formidable yet again, though aside from us in the top five the remainder of the conference is as up-for-grabs as ever.

Update: UT Permian Basin lost to unranked Henderson State 74-71 on the 25th, leaving us alone as an undefeated team heading into the Alaska Fairbanks game. And Coker lost to unranked Erskine just last night 69-62, giving them their second loss pre-conference.

December 28, 1939
Alaska Fairbanks (6-4) @ #1 Winona State (12-0)

The Nanooks came into this one completely worn down and thunderstruck as we blasted them 16-2 in the first five minutes of the game. We led 29-5 with ten minutes to play in the half and by the time we did reach the break we’d pretty much slaughtered them 60-16, the most lopsided game of basketball I’ve yet seen in this league. I gave my third team a lot of playing time in the second half, but it didn’t matter – the damage was done. We still won in blowout style 95-61.

Player of the Game: Steve Booth (22 pts 6 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Roy Wright (14 pts 7 reb 3 ast 3 stl 3 blk) Anthony Soward (10 pts 2 reb 2 ast 1 stl)

Pre-Conference Standings
NorthStar Athletic East
01 - #1 Winona State (13-0) -- RPI: 1
02 - #4 Saginaw Valley State (9-3) -- RPI: 10
03 - Wayne State (6-5) -- RPI: 146
04 - Minnesota St.-Moorehead (6-5) -- RPI: 194
05 - Concordia-St. Paul (6-5) -- RPI: 246
06 - Michigan Tech (5-6) -- RPI: 132
07 - Concordia (5-6) -- RPI: 180
08 - Loras (3-8) -- RPI: 285

NorthStar Athletic West
01 - #3 Sioux Falls (12-2) -- RPI: 2
02 - Northern State (7-4) -- RPI: 54
03 - Minot State (7-4) -- RPI: 121
04 - Black Hills State (6-6) -- RPI: 242
05 - South Dakota M&T (5-6) -- RPI: 300
06 - Augustana (4-7) -- RPI: 87
07 - Mary (4-7) -- RPI: 310
08 - Minnesota State (1-10) -- RPI: 335

[jksander]

January 4, 1940
Michigan Tech (5-6, 0-0) @ #1 Winona State (13-0, 0-0)

We shut the Huskies down 18-7 in the first seven minutes, and with 7:10 to go in the half we’d smothered them 36-10. By halftime we held a 54-20 advantage which we used to bludgeon them in the second half. We’d hold tough to win this one as a blowout, 92-53. Statement made: bring your A-game or you’re going to have a long night.

Player of the Game: Rickey James (35 pts 15 reb 2 ast 2 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Steve Booth (20 pts 6 reb 15 ast 1 blk) Roy Wright (9 pts 17 reb 4 ast 5 blk)

January 7, 1940
#1 Winona State (14-0, 1-0) @ Concordia-St. Paul (7-5, 1-0)

Concordia-St. Paul did a better job of making it a game early, but we broke away from a 7-7 tie early to lead 21-14 with 13:02 to play. With 1:59 to go in the half we still held a 43-31 advantage, and by halftime we led the Golden Bears 49-34. They never mounted any real comeback attempt and we drowned them in offense as per usual during the second half, finishing this one out nicely to win 93-64 and improve to 2-0 in the conference.

Player of the Game: Roy Wright (23 pts 14 reb 3 ast 4 stl 3 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Soward (22 pts 4 reb) Rickey James (13 pts 12 reb 3 ast 2 stl 2 blk)

[jksander]

January 11, 1940
#1 Winona State (15-0, 2-0) @ Minnesota State (1-12, 0-2)

Minnesota State came out with fire in their eyes and a 7-8 lead with 16:49 to go in the first half, but a 9-2 run put us nicely ahead before their star guard put up a three to make it a 16-13 lead for our Warriors with 14:13 to go in the half. Soward answered with a three of his own, and we blitzed them in scoring from there, daring them to keep up. With 10:53 to go we led 29-14, and by halftime the bulk of the crowd (what crowd there WAS for a 1-12 team) had left knowing all they were going to get was twenty more minutes of the #1 team in the nation demolishing the home team. We led 52-31 at the half and coasted from there (playing our reserves for much of the last ten minutes) beating the Mavericks 84-70.

Player of the Game: Anthony Soward (35 pts 4 reb 3 ast 2 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Roy Wright (15 pts 16 reb 1 ast 2 blk) Rickey James (15 pts 3 reb 1 stl)

January 14, 1940
#4 Saginaw Valley State (12-3, 3-0) @ #1 Winona State (16-0, 3-0)

Saginaw Valley State started out poorly and we took full advantage, putting together a 14-4 run to open the game before they had time to react. We led 18-10 with 12:44 to go, and in a half which was defensively well played on both sides, we simply crushed them in stellar offense. By halftime we had a 56-34 lead on the Cardinals simply because we were holding them to 25 percent from the field. And in the second half we continued to outshoot them, both in quantity and quality of shots, dominating the remainder to crush a top five team 100-70!

Player of the Game: Steve Booth (20 pts 5 reb 10 ast 1 stl)
Honorable Mentions: Roy Wright (9 pts 20 reb 3 ast 2 blk) Rickey James (21 pts 9 reb 5 ast 1 blk)
 
January 18, 1940
#1 Winona State (17-0, 4-0) @ Minot State (9-6, 2-2)

Minot State didn’t have the legs to run with us. We held a 26-12 lead on the Beavers with 12:23 to go in the first half, and we held a solid 57-35 lead at the half. We dominated the remainder of the game en route to a 91-78 victory that was never as close as the score would indicate (we had the bench in for most of the final ten minutes, allowing them to fight back by inches).

Player of the Game: Roy Wright (32 pts 20 reb 1 ast 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Soward (22 pts 2 reb 1 ast 1 stl 1 blk) Rickey James (15 pts 8 reb 3 stl 1 blk)

January 21, 1940
Minnesota St. - Moorehead (9-7, 3-2) @ #1 Winona State (18-0, 5-0)

Moorehead had us in a close one briefly, our lead 7-5 in the first couple minutes, and then we shut them down completely en route to a 21-9 lead with 10:27 to play. The Dragons didn’t have the firepower to slow us down, and we cruised to lead 37-21 at the half and from there to easy victory, winning 81-60 to remain undefeated.

Player of the Game: Rickey James (19 pts 6 reb 3 ast 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Anthony Soward (18 pts 2 reb 3 ast 2 stl) Roy Wright (13 pts 8 reb 1 ast 1 stl 4 blk)

January 25, 1940
#1 Winona State (19-0, 6-0) @ Northern State (8-9, 1-5)

This one got off to a fast start, with us leading 7-6 in the first two minutes. Our lead grew to 13-6 with 16:34 to play, but Northern State fought back and kept it interesting through the half. We led 36-31 with 2:45 to go in the half, and we led 41-31 at the break, but we’d played uncharacteristically poorly during the half and were only in the lead because Northern State’s shooting had been profoundly weak. We got our **** together in the second half and put them away early, our lead 75-48 with 9:17 to play. From there it was business as usual and we won 86-65.

Player of the Game: Eric Johnston (12 pts 1 reb 5 ast 1 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mention: Warren Holliday (10 pts 1 reb 4 ast 2 stl 2 blk)

January 28, 1940
#1 Winona State (20-0, 7-0) @ Wayne State (11-7, 5-2)

Wayne State has won some big games this year, but they came out flaccid in this one and we shut them down efficiently, leading 19-8 with 13:24 to go in the first half. But they fought back, and over a six minute stretch they outscored us 11-3, making this a 22-19 game with 7:40 to go before halftime. They took the lead with 5:10 to go, and with 2:08 to play we held a 35-30 lead that seemed very tenuous. By halftime we were up 39-34 but definitely in a real fight for the first time since early in the season.

More than two minutes into the second half Wayne State scored first blood with a triple to make it a two-point game. They tied it 39-39 with 17:11 to go, and took their biggest lead of the game 39-42 on another triple with 16:24 left in the contest. With 11:37 left we were knotted 49-49, but Wayne State was outplaying us and we knew it. They quickly rebuilt their lead to six, up 53-59 with 7:47 to play, and we were seriously in jeopardy of our perfect season crumbling. With just four minutes to go we trailed by a dozen, 55-67, and desperately needed a comeback. Roy Wright nailed a triple with 3:12 to play, making it 58-69, and he nailed another with 1:05 to go that made it a 63-73 game. But it was too little too late. Wayne State shut us down 66-76, ending our perfect season.

Player of the Game: Roy Wright (11 pts 6 reb 2 ast 4 stl 2 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Steve Booth (10 pts 3 reb 2 stl) Anthony Soward (16 pts 1 reb 1 ast 2 stl)

[jksander]

February 1, 1940
Concordia (9-10, 4-4) @ #1 Winona State (20-1, 7-1)

We’ve played sloppily for the last few weeks, perhaps feeling invincible as the only undefeated team in the country. Now that veneer’s been stripped away and we came out fired up tonight, wanting to make sure we wouldn’t drop a game at home to the Cobbers. The game was ugly at the start, however, long stretches of poor shooting from our Warriors, and the only reason we still held a 15-9 lead on the Cobbers with 12:08 to go was our three-point shooting. And Concordia just wouldn’t fade. We led 23-19 with 7:38 remaining, and we went into halftime with a 39-30 lead that wasn’t the statement we’d wanted to make when we started tonight.

Concordia kept it close early in the second half, fighting to within six, down 48-42, with 14:39 to go in the game. And though we held them off successfully, our offensive flair was gone and the second half turned into a real slog. The home fans were glad to see that we didn’t choke completely on our court, but heading into a big game against Sioux Falls it certainly didn’t look confident beating the Cobbers by a mere 71-63 margin.

Player of the Game: Steve Booth (11 pts 3 ast 1 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Dave Jones (8 pts 3 reb 1 ast) Anthony Soward (7 pts 1 reb 1 stl)

If the Norton vote was to happen today, Roy Wright and Anthony Soward would be second-team All Americans, with Rickey James (12th) and Steve Booth (14th) still in the running. We’re about to face Sioux Falls, however, with two potential first-teamers in their lineup (PG Joe Rhodes and SG Jimmy Marquis). The way we’ve been playing and being that we’re facing them on their court, I’m at a loss which Warriors team will show up to play.
 
February 4, 1940
#1 Winona State (21-1, 8-1) @ #4 Sioux Falls (18-5, 6-3)

Sioux Falls got out to a 5-9 lead on us early, and they cut us apart silently and with precision from there, leading 6-18 with 13:02 to play in the first half. It was UGLY. Steve Booth kept us in there with spectacular three-point shooting, his best coming with 9:08 to play as we pulled within a point, down 22-23! Wright tied it 24-24 with a pair of well-timed free-throws, and we took the lead 29-28 on ANOTHER Booth triple -- the guard sitting on 18 points at that moment! We went into the break leading 38-34, and considering our piss-poor start, I saw this as a turn in the right direction.

The first five minutes of the half were a shootout with both of our teams evenly matched, so our lead remained 50-46 with 14:40 to play. Sioux Falls tried to stay in it but we began to pull away midway through the half, up 65-55 with 9:37 remaining. We held tough during a stretch that could have swung either way and we kept Sioux Falls guessing all the way to an 80-66 win for our Warriors!

Player of the Game: Steve Booth (31 pts 6 reb 3 ast 2 stl 1 blk)
Honorable Mentions: Roy Wright (19 pts 11 reb 2 ast 1 stl 3 blk) Anthony Soward (16 pts 3 reb 1 ast)