Men's Basketball | 11/11/2015 7:35:00 PM

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WHAT'S AHEAD...

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team will travel to Russellville, Ark. to participate in the Arkansas Tech Conference Challenge on Friday and Saturday. They will face non-conference opponents in Harding University and Arkansas Tech. 

In the first game of the tournament, the Dragons will take on the Bison of Harding University who open their season against the Dragons at 7:30 p.m. CT on Friday evening. In the Great American Conference Preseason Coaches' poll, the Bison were favored to win the conference after posting a 21-0 record last season. They return All-Region selection senior forward Andraz Kavas who averaged 20.1 points per game last season, along with three other double digit scorers from last year's team in senior guard Jacob Gibson, senior guard Blake McNair, and junior guard Will Francis. Jeff Morgan returns for his 23rd season as head coach of the Bison and holds a career record of 378-251 at the school. 

Saturday evening's matchup will feature the Dragons and the Wonder Boys of Arkansas Tech. The Dragons will be just the second game of the season for the Wonder Boys as they will open their season against Northern State on Friday evening. ATU was picked to finish fourth in the Great American Conference preseason poll after they advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh consecutive year last season. The team will return four letterwinners from last year's squad including senior forward Nick Wayman who had 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last year. They will also bring back senior guard Bryson Fletcher who averaged 3.6 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game last year. The game is slated to start at 7 p.m. CT. The Wonder Boys are led by second year head coach in Chad Kline. Kline is 18-14 as head coach at ATU. 

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK...

The Dragons opened their 2015-16 campaign at the CCA C2 Tip-Off Classic in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 30-Nov. 1 where they faced tough competition in California Baptist, UC-Colorado Springs, and Western Washington. Two of the three teams were ranked in the top 15 teams in Division II in the nation in the preseason coaches' poll. MSUM went 2-1 on the weekend. 

The first match of the season had the No. 9-ranked Dragons taking on the No. 11-ranked Lancers of California Baptist where the Dragons would fall in overtime, 84-80. 

Senior center Isaac Sevlie would score a career-high 31 points in the loss going 11-20 from the field and 9-11 from the charity stripe along with having a team-high nine rebounds.  Junior forward Ayob Ayob had 14 points and six rebounds, while junior guard Arroyo Edwards had nine points. Senior guard Tyler Vaughan had eight points, five rebounds and four assists.

The Dragons shot 41.8 percent (28-of-67) for the game compared to 46.0 percent (29-of-63) for Cal Baptist. The Lancers had a 44-32 edge in rebounds.

In the second game of the tournament the Dragons would face UC-Colorado Springs where they would come away victorious, 86-71. 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.

In the third and final game in California, the Dragons would outlast the Vikings of Western Washington in another close game, 74-71. Four Dragons scored in double figures, led by senior center Isaac Sevlie with 21 points. Sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman added 14 points, while senior guard Tyler Vaughan had 11 points and a game-high five assists. Junior guard Aaron Lien had 10 points for MSUM. Sevlie led with eight rebounds while junior forward Matt Nelson added seven.

MSUM shot 42.9 percent (27-of-63) for the game, compared to 40.9 percent (27-of-66) for Western Washington. The Vikings had a slight 45-42 edge in rebounds. The big difference in the game was points in the paint, as MSUM had a 42-26 edge in that statistic.