The March Madness continues for Carson Johnson and the MSU Moorhead men’s basketball team.
Johnson, a former Ankeny guard, scored 11 points on Saturday to help the Dragons to a 69-62 victory over Fort Hays State in the Central Regional quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament at Topeka, Kan.
Second-seeded MSU Moorhead (24-8) will now face third-seeded Winona State (22-10) in the regional semifinals on Sunday at Lee Arena. Tip-off is at 5 p.m.
The Dragons won all three previous meetings against Winona State by double digits, including a 63-47 win in the semifinals of the NSIC Tournament on March 3.
“It’s really just getting back to the basics,” said Johnson. “It’s our fourth time seeing them this year. We know them; they know us. It’s just about executing.”
MSU Moorhead overcame an eight-point deficit with 13 minutes left to win Saturday’s game. The Dragons’ rally was ignited by 7-foot-1 center Jacob Jennissen, who scored on three straight possessions to cut the lead to four.
Jennissen went on to finish with 22 points and 21 rebounds, the most boards by a Dragon since Alex Novak hauled down 21 against Winona State in 2011.
“He’s amazing. He’s a monster,” Johnson said of Jennissen. “He was going crazy today.”
The Dragons closed out the game with a 25-12 run over the final 9:25. No. 7 seed Fort Hays State ended the season at 22-10.
Johnson was coming off an historic performance at the NSIC Tournament, where he averaged 26 points a game and became the first true freshman in league history to be named tournament MVP after leading the Dragons to the championship. His emergence as a budding star also earned him a spot on the Division II Conference Commissioners Association All-Central Region Second Team.
On Saturday, Johnson battled some foul trouble and struggled from the field, going just 3-of-12 overall and 1-of-5 from 3-point range. But he made a pair of jumpers in the final minutes to help seal the victory.
“No matter how many shots don’t go in, coach (Tim Bergstraser) always tells me to keep shooting it,” Johnson said. “He knows the next one is going in; I know the next one is going in. He always puts that trust in me with the ball, and down the stretch we needed some big plays and those were just a couple of buckets. Everyone else had some very huge plays, too.”
Johnson connected with 2:28 left to give MSU Moorhead a 59-53 advantage. He scored again with 53 seconds to go to extend the margin to 63-57.
Johnson then added two free throws to make it 67-60 with 14 seconds to go.
“That’s just how he’s wired,” Bergstraser said of Johnson’s clutch baskets. “We knew (Kaleb) Hammeke was one heck of a defender, and we anticipated that he was going to be pressuring (Johnson) that entire game and trying to take away a lot of that stuff. But I told (Carson), ‘At some point he’s going to give you some opening.’ So when he did get that opening, he’s just wired to hit those kind of big shots. And we told the guys in the huddles near the end of the game that last 10 minutes, ‘You just can’t be afraid to step up and make winning plays.’
“That’s what it takes when you come to tournament time,” he added.
The Dragons shot just 40.0 percent from the field (22-of-55) and 2-of-12 from behind the arc, but they relied on a 40-25 rebounding advantage to win a seesaw game that featured nine ties and 11 lead changes.
“We’ll be better (Sunday),” Johnson said. “Just survive and and advance, that’s the main thing.”