Box Score
DULUTH, Minn. – Senior Alex Novak surpassed 1,000 rebounds for his career, but a rally by the Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team fell short against Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday as the Dragons fell, 74-66 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action in Duluth, Minn.

MSUM fell to 16-10 overall and 10-10 in the NSIC with the loss, while UMD, which beat Northern State a night earlier, improved to 7-17 overall and 5-15 in the league.

Novak, who needed 11 rebounds to reach 1,000 for his career, had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.  He is now at 1,001 career rebounds and is just 16 away from the career record held by Walt Whitaker.

Senior Anthony Tucker had 20 points and seven rebounds for MSUM, while sophomore Evan Holt had 10 points off the bench. Sophomore Jordan Riewer led with four assists.

MSUM shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) for the game, compared to 50.9 percent (29-of-57) for UMD. The Dragons had a 32-31 edge in rebounds and only committed seven turnovers.

However, a 21-point first-half deficit proved to be too much for MSUM to overcome, although they made a valiant effort down the stretch to do so.
MSUM was down 63-46 with 7:01 left but outscored the Bulldogs 14-4 over the next 5:09 to cut the gap to 67-60.  Tucker, whose layup with 1:52 left brought MSUM within 67-60, had seven points to lead the comeback, while Holt drained a three.

The Dragons got as close as seven in the final minutes but ultimately ran out of time as the Bulldogs went on to take the eight-point win.
In the first half, UMD built a 40-21 lead but the Dragons were able to climb back within striking distance in the closing moments. They scored the final nine points of the half – with Holt draining two threes and Tucker one – to climb within 40-30 at the break.

The Dragons were within 44-39 after a pair of free throws by freshman Ben Figini in the second half with 15:16 left, but the Bulldogs answered with a key 19-7 run to push the lead back to 17, when the Dragons began their rally over the final minutes.

Figini added six points off the bench for MSUM. Senior Eric Olson had two blocks.

The Dragons return home for the final NSIC regular-season weekend when they host Mary on Friday, Feb. 22.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons have now lost nine out of their last 12 games with one three-game losing streak and three two-game losing streaks. The last time this happened was during the 1999/2000 season from Jan. 8 through Feb. 19 under Mike Olson. The Dragons victories were at Minnesota-Crookston, home versus Minnesota-Morris and at Concordia St. Paul.