ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – (RV) Griffon Men's Basketball (2-0) had a first half scoring explosion and rolled to a 91-76 win over No. 22 St. Cloud State on Friday afternoon at the MWSU Fieldhouse in the Hillyard Tipoff Classic.
MoWest got down 6-0 early, but reeled off an 11-1 run to lead 11-7 with 15:51 to go in the first half. The Griffons led 57-32 at halftime and that lead ballooned to 78-48 with 10:31 to go in the game.
The Huskies (1-1) closed the gap a bit down the stretch, but the Griffs led by at least 15 points for the entirety of the second half.
The Griffons were, once again, scorching hot from long range, hitting 15-of-31 (48.4%) from three. MoWest shot 29-of-61 (47.5%) from the field overall and 18-of-23 (78.3%) from the foul line.
Cole Marsh, in his Griffon debut, dropped a game-high 20 points off the bench on a 6-of-9 effort from three.
Gavin Hershberger also came off the bench, scoring 17 points on a 4-of-5 effort from long range.
Drew Kingery dropped 16 points, while
Bode Goodman added 15.
William Kiburis led the way in rebounding with 10 to go with nine points and three steals.
Trey McKowen doled out six assists.
MoWest scores its first win over a ranked team since January 2024, snapping what was a nine-game losing streak against ranked opponents.
MoWest continues play in the Hillyard Tipoff Classic on Saturday when they take on Minnesota-Duluth. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) and available to stream on the MIAA Network.
