The dregs of early February were evident in the basketball game between the Crimson and the Armstrong Falcons. Both teams resembled a bike tire in the spring, just flat enough to be noticed.
The Falcons were hitting their outside shots and were getting second chances that turned into baskets. Brycen Wojta and Erik Olson had 6 points at the break and Jake Sterling provided strong minutes off the bench. The Falcons led 32-29 at the half.
Early in the second half, Jake Wieneke's rebound and assist to the streaking Brandon Barta prompted the Falcons to take a time out with the score 33-30 Crimson. Later in the half, the Falcons led 44-39 when JJ Morris took the ball to the rack and was rejected by Olson. On the ensuing trip up the floor, neither collision between Wojta and Morris resulted in a foul, and the intensity got cranked up. Armstrong continued their torrid shooting from behind the arc and saw their lead extend to 56-49 while the Crimson didn't convert when they had good looks. Barta hit a huge three to make the score 59-52. Matt Lindgren and Austin Paul worked together to score inside and it was 59-55 with 3:25 to go. Dixon, a sophomore for Armstrong had hit a big three earlier in the half, and his heat check from 25 was an air ball, but when Crimson didn't block out on the weak-side, it led to a layup for the Falcons. The Crimson got it to 68-64 after a Wieneke layup. After a missed free throw with 20 seconds the Crimson got a good look from the corner, but weren't able to convert as the Falcons got their second straight win.
The Crimson fall to 11-7 over all and 8-5 in conference play.
