Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Four Minnesota State University Moorhead players scored in double figures as the Dragon men's basketball team earned a 92-77 win over Mary in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night at Alex Nemzek Hall in Moorhead, Minn.

The Dragons improved to 17-10 overall and 11-10 in the NSIC with the win, while Mary fell to 4-21 overall and 3-18 in the league. The win assures that MSUM will host in the opening round of the NSIC tournament, which begins on Wednesday.

Senior Anthony Tucker led the Dragons with 23 points and a career-high 10 assists.  Freshman Tyler Vaughan tied a career-high with 21 points, while senior Alex Novak had his 10th double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Jordan Riewer had 15 points and four assists for MSUM.

MSUM shot 49.2 percent (30-of-61) for the game, compared to 44.8 percent (30-of-67) for Mary. MSUM also had a 39-33 edge in rebounds.
 
The Dragons got off to a good start in the game, opening on a 11-3 run over the first 3:11. Vaughan, who had 14 first-half points, had five points, while Novak had four.

Mary battled back to take a 14-12 lead, but MSUM responded with a 13-2 run to surge into a 25-16 lead with 9:05 left. Tucker sparked the surge with two 3-pointers while sophomore Evan Holt also drained a three.

The Dragons maintained the lead for the rest of the half and took a 39-34 lead into the break.

Mary was within 54-51 with 10:38 left, but the Dragons responded with a decisive 16-5 run over the next five minutes to stretch their lead to 70-56. Tucker was the catalyst of that spurt with 11 points, while senior Eric Olson converted a key three-point play.

MSUM's lead never dropped below eight the rest of the way as the Dragons went on to the 15-point win.

Freshman Ben Figini had eight points for MSUM. Olson had six points, four rebounds a a game-high three steals.

MSUM hosts Minot State to wrap up the regular season on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Note: Novak's 12 boards gave him 1,013 for his career, just four away from tying the career record held by Walt Whitman.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons earned their 17th win this season with their victory over the University of Mary giving them back-to-back 17-plus win seasons for the first time since 2001/2002 (17-10 under Mike Olson) and 2002/2003 (19-10 under Stu Engen). It also marks the first time that the Dragons have had back-to-back 17 win seasons under the same head coach (Chad Walthall) since Dave Schellhase's three-year run from 1979-1982.