Carson Johnson’s collegiate debut on the hardwood proved to be a memorable one.
The former Ankeny basketball standout poured in 22 points on Saturday to lead sixth-ranked Minnesota State Moorhead to a 90-64 victory over Minnesota-Crookston. The freshman guard was inserted into the starting lineup and played a team-high 31 minutes, going 8-of-16 from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range.
Johnson scored seven of his points in an 18-2 run that opened the game. He later hit another 3-pointer to extend the Dragons’ lead to 32-11.
MSUM is now 10-2 overall and 5-1 in the NSIC. The Dragons will host St. Cloud St. and former Ankeny Centennial star Luke Winkel on Feb. 1.
Those two teams already met once on Dec. 13 at St. Cloud, where MSUM posted a 75-73 win. Winkel came off the bench and scored 16 points, going 3-of-4 from behind the arc while nearly matching his career-high of 17 which came six days earlier at Minnesota-Crookston.
Winkel, a freshman guard, has helped the Huskies to records of 4-2 and 8-6. He has played in 13 games, averaging 10.0 points in 24.4 minutes per contest.