On Saturday, John Smith became just the second Winona State University men’s basketball player to reach the 2,000-point plateau.
It was just the latest in a long list of accomplishments that the ever-modest senior center shrugged off.
“It’s one of those things that if we don’t win and if it doesn’t help make everyone else on the team better, it wouldn’t mean a thing,” Smith said. “Fortunately, I’ve been able to do both, to achieve some personal accomplishments and win at the same time.”
Smith, who is now just 46 points behind David Zellmann’s all-time career scoring mark, scored point No. 2,000 relatively easily — at the free-throw line.
The Warriors’ 72-62 victory over Upper Iowa, however, wasn’t so simple.
Early on, it seemed WSU would repeat the 26-point thrashing it handed the Peacocks at McCown Gymnasium on Dec. 6. Leading 9-8 just over six minutes into the game, the Warriors broke off a 12-0 run to take a 21-8 lead with 10:49 remaining in the first half. But UIU responded.
Trailing 32-21 with just over 3:13 remaining until halftime, the Peacocks hit 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions to end the first half on a 12-5 run and cut the deficit to 37-33 at the intermission.
“They shot the ball very well from the 3-point line,” WSU coach Mike Leaf said. “It was almost 60 percent in the first half and 50 percent for the game.
“We gave them some open looks, and they were able to knock them down.”
Just over four minutes into the second half, A.J. Adkins gave UIU its first lead since scoring the first points of the game with a 3-pointer that made it 44-41.
The Peacocks (6-15, 5-7) never trailed over the next 11:05, pushing their lead to as many as four points on two different occasions. But the Warriors’ defense, experience and clutch free-throw shooting was too much to overcome.
A David Johnson steal and layup gave WSU a 56-55 lead with 4:37 remaining.
After a missed UIU 3-pointer, Johnson converted on both free throws at the other end to push the Warriors’ lead to three points.
On the ensuing UIU possession, freshman guard Ben Fischer blocked an Adkins 3-point attempt. On the other end, Fischer crashed the offensive boards, cleaning up a Jonte Flowers miss to cap a 9-0 WSU run to extend the lead to 60-55 with just over three minutes remaining.
After a timeout, Jude Roybal converted on a driving layup to bring the Peacocks within three, but Travis Whipple stuck the proverbial dagger with a 3-pointer on the ensuing WSU possession and the Warriors went 7 of 8 from the free-throw line the rest of the way to seal it.
WSU shot 41.2 percent from the floor (21-for-51) and 38.9 percent from 3-point range (7-for-18).
The Peacocks shot 46.9 percent from the field (23-for-49) and 50 percent from beyond the arc (9-for-18) but committed 18 turnovers on the night.
It was the 17th consecutive victory overall and the 42nd consecutive victory in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for the No. 3-ranked Warriors.
“We get every team’s best effort, and once (the Peacocks) got a sense they were still in the ball game, they played extremely hard,” Leaf said. But I give our guys credit. There was still five minutes to go and it was a four-point game and our guys just stayed poised and positive, continued to play great defense and finally clicked and went on a big run. It was a great way to finish.”
Flowers led all scorers with 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting. The three-time defending NSIC defensive player of the year also added six rebounds, four assists and five steals. Johnson finished with 14 points, and Whipple had 11.
WSU senior Quincy Henderson, who was charged Jan. 28 with two counts of misdemeanor domestic assault, did not play.
“I decided that I was going to sit him down,” Leaf said.
While Leaf stopped short of giving an explanation for his decision, he did confirm that Henderson is not suspended and will be ‘ready to go’ next weekend.
Smith, who entered the game with 1,999 career points, finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. His milestone free throw came 2:39 into the game.
Smith will have a chance to become WSU’s all-time scoring king when the Warriors (23-1, 12-0) travel to play Wayne State on Friday and Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.
“Obviously, I want (the record) for my own selfish reasons,” Smith said. “The reason you work hard is to be the best and to get certain things like that but, once again, it’s all about winning.