by Sam Goetzinger / @sam_goetzinger / sports@kvsc.org

It has been a fantastic season for the St. Cloud State Huskies on the court and leading the charge is Redshirt-Senior Gage Davis. Davis is a product of Bolingbrook, Illinois where he spent his youth playing basketball. In his prep years, Davis was named Honorable Mention All-State as a senior, averaging 14.5 points and 3.0 assists per game. He became a First Team All-Conference selection and First Team All-Area. Gage went on to commit to play college ball at Division I Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne where he would go on to redshirt his Freshman season. Davis decided to make the trek and transfer to St. Cloud State the following season and that choice went on to be great for both Gage and SCSU.

Throughout Davis’s four-year career, the resume he has built up on the court has been one of the best in program history. In his Freshman season, Davis tallied 19.7 points per game along with 8 rebounds a contest. Those numbers gave him the NSIC’s Freshman of the Year honor and a selection as All-first team for the NSIC. A Sophomore Slump was non-existent for Davis, in his 2^nd year campaign he increased his points per game average to 22.5 and added 8.9 rebounds per game.

The accolades racked up for Davis in his Sophomore season including his second straight All-NSIC first team selection, and four-time NSIC player of the week. Gage reached 1,000 career points for SCSU in only 49 games. The dominance continued going into his Junior season as well. Davis put up 19.2 points per game throughout the season. Tacked on his third consecutive All-NSIC first team selection and named player of the week twice. The scary thing for teams in the NSIC,

Davis’s Senior season is arguably his best yet. The regular season ended with Gage leading the team with 25.1 points a contest, and 7.7 rebounds a game. Davis currently sits 2^nd in points per game throughout the season for the NSIC and 8^th in the nation. I spoke with Davis about how he has perfected his game since coming to St. Cloud State and he replied, “When I first got here, I was trying to find my role and see what the team needed. I was fortunate enough to step into a role of a scorer and for someone to step in a make an impact right away. Fortunately, coach put some trust into me and let me have that freedom out there on the court and from there it built on. Each Summer, I try to add little parts of my game here and there with certain aspects, just little things like adding weight and muscle. I want to play after here too, so it’s about long term just as well as it while I’m here at St. Cloud State…”. Davis marked 5 NSIC player of the week awards thus far and more accolades will pour in once the season is over.

What we do know, is all the great records and accomplishments he has achieved during the regular season. In a game against Southwest Minnesota State at home in Halenbeck Hall, Davis was under 20 points away from the 2,000-point clip for his career. Gage led the Huskies to a win and had 19 points to reach 2,000. A couple weekends later, SCSU was in Bemidji taking on the Beavers in a nail-biter from start to finish. The game went into double-overtime, and the Huskies were able to steal a win behind Davis’s 42-point performance. With those numbers Davis became the All-time leading scorer in NSIC History passing Daniel Jansen from Augustana who played from 2012-2016. Gage then put his sights to another record, and that was becoming the all-time leading scorer in SCSU history.

Coming into a match-up against Minot State at home, he was 32 points away from breaking the record held by Dan Hagen for 38 years. The Huskies dominated the Beavers and Gage scored exactly 32 points to make history.

But why stop there? SCSU went on the road to face Wayne State and Augustana in a weekend series, and well, Gage dominated scoring a career-high 46 points against the Wildcats and followed that up with 31 more points against the Vikings. With the unreal weekend, he became the all-time leading scorer in Minnesota collegiate basketball history surpassing St. John’s Frank Wachlarowicz.

The record was held for 40 years and the Illinois native was able to snatch it and then some. Davis reflected on his achievements, “That’s something if you would have told me when I first got here, I would have thought you were crazy. I’m glad I was able to come here and make a name for myself especially being so far away from home. I’ve had the support from the fans and the coaching staff to get me comfortable here so I can accomplish these things. It’s a great feeling knowing I’ll be apart of Minnesota forever even though I am not from here and it’s like a home to me now”.