Brian Moos / Sports Director

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – On Tuesday, St. Cloud Tech Boys Basketball battled back to win over Brainerd 76-73. The Tigers were led by junior Jiech Jiech, who scored 17 points in the first half and finished with 33. Brainerd were in control through the first half. Even though Tech cut the Warriors’ leads down to one possession multiple times, Brainerd led 37-30 at the break.

The Tigers’ strong defensive effort in the second half led them to victory. Senior Manabenda James locked down the paint, as the pace of the game increased the Tigers took their first lead. At the 13-minute mark of the second half, Tech led 42-41. From that point, the Tigers and Warriors matched each other blow for blow.

Brainerd had the last shot of regulation with 32 seconds left, game tied 63-63. Another defensive stand for St. Cloud pushed the game to overtime. The Warriors grabbed the lead in overtime and Jiech fouled out with two minutes remaining. The Tigers powered through though, getting two game-changing threes from senior Moulid Abdi to finish the comeback. Tigers over Warriors, 76-73.

Tuesday was St. Cloud’s first home win of the 2025-26 season. The Tigers improved to 2-3 on the season and 2-1 in the Central Lakes Conference. St. Cloud Tech will host Sauk Rapids-Rice on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. Coverage of the game will be on the KVSC Sports Stream.