By: Osirus Washington
Both the Raiders men’s and women’s basketball teams fought hard in their pre-Thanksgiving games against St. Cloud Tech, but ended up short in the end. The men’s team fell 75-59 and the women’s team lost 86-64.
In the men’s game, where the team has only three returning players, Sophomore Lamontrell Fuller scored 15 points, grabbed 6 boards, and added 3 assists with limited minutes due to foul trouble.
He had the gym electrified with a monstrous slam over a St. Cloud Tech defender, but the Raiders really missed him the rest of the first half.
“I feel like as a leader; I should be more disciplined on defense and adjust to how the refs are calling the game,” said Fuller in an interview about the game. “We have to better prepare ourselves for our opponents and take every game seriously.”
The Raiders got off to a slow start and it continued throughout the game. They had 25 turnovers, shot 39% from the field, and 4-14 from behind the arc (28%). On the other hand, St. Cloud Tech picked up after their slow start. They had good production from their starters, and two players scored in double figures off the bench. Like Kyle Williams, who scored 17 off the bench and added 6 rebounds and 5 assists for Tech.
Looking forward, the Raiders have three big games this week and can redeem themselves.
“It’s still early, and we only lost one game. It’s not the end of the world. We just have to fix things and be ready to go this week at home, ” said Head Coach Jim Russell at the Raiders practice sunday night. Russell also said “Give it up to St. Cloud, they played a heck of a game.”