Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. – A big advantage at the free-throw line proved to be the difference as the Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team defeated the University of Mary, 83-73 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night in Bismarck, N.D.

The Dragons improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the NSIC, while Mary fell to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in the league.

MSUM hit 33-of-42 free throws (78.6 percent), compared to 20-of-25 shooting for the Marauders. Junior guard Jordan Riewer hit 10-of-10 free throws while junior guard Malik Wood hit 8-of-8 for MSUM.
Sophomore guard Tyler Vaughan paced MSUM with 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Riewer added a season-high 19 points while Wood had 12. Senior guard Tarell Clark had six rebounds, while sophomore forward Ben Figini had three assists.

The Dragons trailed 17-13 with 13:46 left in the first half but responded with a 12-0 run to take a 25-17 lead with 9:52 in the first half. Clark and Wood led the way with four points each during that run. Moments later, a Riewer three gave the Dragons their largest lead of the night at 41-23 with 5:34 left in the first half.  The Dragons led 45-35 at halftime.

Vaughan had a huge first half with 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Wood had six points.

Mary battled back in the second half and closed the Dragon lead to 60-59 with 10:23 left. The Dragons led 66-62 with 7:12 left but Riewer scored six straight points to push the MSUM lead back to double digits at 72-62 with 5:31 left. Mary got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

Senior forward Taylor Filipek added seven points and four rebounds off of the bench for MSUM. Figini had six points while freshman forward Aaron Lien had five rebounds.

The Dragons will play at Minot State on Saturday. Game time is 6 p.m. in Minot, N.D.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragon men have scored over 80 points in all six of their games this season. They failed to do so the entire 1999/2000 season. Their high water mark for offense that year under Mike Olson was in a 76-53 home win over Minnesota Crookston on Feb. 26, 2000.