ANAHEIM, Calif. – Three Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball players scored in double figures to help the No. 9-ranked Dragons record an 86-71 win over Colorado-Colorado Springs in action Saturday at the CCA Tip-Off Classic in Anaheim, Calif.
MSUM is now 1-1 on the year while UC-Colorado Springs, which was the tournament champions of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference a year ago and ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation, fell to 0-2.
Senior forward
Isaac Sevlie had 21 points for MSUM while senior guard
Tyler Vaughan had 17. Junior guard
Aaron Lien had 11 points. Junior forward
Matt Nelson provided valuable minutes off the bench for MSUM, tying a career-high with 12 rebounds to go along with eight points. Sophomore guard
Tanner Kretchman had nine points while Vaughan led with six assists.
MSUM shot 52.5 percent (31-of-59) for the game compared to 41.7 percent (25-of-60) for UCCS. The Dragons had a 35-32 edge in rebounds. A key difference in the game was bench production as MSUM's bench outscored UCCS 35-10.
Vaughan opened the scoring with a three-pointer at the 19:08 mark and the Dragons would never trail. They opened the game on an 8-2 spurt, which also included a three by Lien, over the first 2:19.
The Mountain Lions were within 18-14 with 12:57 left in the first half before a 10-0 MSUM run vaulted the Dragon lead to 28-14 with 9:46 left in the first half. Kretchman and senior guard
Evan Holt each buried threes during that run for the Dragons.
MSUM took a 48-32 advantage into halftime, thanks in large part to 56.7 percent shooting from the field (17-of-30). Lien had 11 points in the opening half for MSUM while Sevlie had 10.
The Dragons' biggest lead of the night came at the 18:19 mark of the second half when senior guard
Ngijol Songolo converted a layup. That gave MSUM a 55-34 lead. UCCS cut the lead to 10 points later in the half but the MSUM lead never dropped out of double digits.
Sevlie added seven rebounds for MSUM.
The Dragons wrap up the week on Sunday against No. 15-ranked Western Washington. WWU opened the year with a 95-84 win over UC-Colorado Springs on Friday. The Vikings played Upper Iowa on Saturday afternoon but results not available when this article was posted.
