Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team saw its eight-game home winning streak end in a 79-64 loss to Northern State in a fight for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's North Division Tuesday night at Alex Nemzek Hall in Moorhead, Minn.

The Dragons fell to 13-3 overall and 7-3 in the NSIC with the loss, while Northern improved to  13-4 overall and 8-2 in the league.

Senior Anthony Tucker led the Dragons with 21 points and six assists, while sophomore Jordan Riewer had 11 points and five assists. Freshman Tyler Vaughan had 10 points off the bench, while senior Alex Novak had nine points and seven rebounds.

The Dragons led early at 7-4 after a layup by Alex Novak, but the Wolves eventually took the lead. MSUM trailed 20-12 after nine minutes but went on a 15-6 run over the next eight minutes to take a 27-26 lead. Freshman Ben Figini and Riewer each had four points during the run while Vaughan hit a three.

MSUM trailed 35-31 at halftime despite shooting 48 percent in the first half. The Wolves had an 18-13 edge in rebounds in the first half, including 7-2 on the offensive glass.

Novak's layup brought the Dragons within 35-33 early in the second half, but Northern State scored seven straight points to build a 42-33 lead.  MSUM was within 44-36 after a Figini layup, but Northern answered with a 15-5 ruin over the next five minutes to build a 59-41 lead. MSUM got no closer than 15 the rest of the way.

Figini, who made his first career start, had eight points for MSUM.

MSUM shot 48 percent (24-of-50) for the game, compared to 51.6 percent (32-of-62) for Northern State. The Wolves had a 34-26 lead on the glass.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tonight's loss was the first time in nearly a decade the Dragons lost a ballgame by exactly 23 points (87-64 at Mankato this past Saturday night), then dropped their next ballgame as well. The Dragons suffered a 91-68 home loss versus Bemidji State on Feb. 7, 2003, and then came back the next night only to lose an 82-72 overtime decision to Minnesota-Duluth.