MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team outscored Northern State 12-6 over the final 3:14 to break a 59-59 tie and earn a 71-65 win over the Wolves Tuesday night at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.
MSUM, ranked No. 9 in the latest NABC/Division II poll, improved to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Northern State fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.
Four Dragons scored in double figures, led by senior forward
Isaac Sevlie with 14 points. He also set a career-high with six blocks while adding six rebounds. Sophomore guard
Tanner Kretchman had 12 points and four assists, while senior guards
Tyler Vaughan and
Ngijol Songolo had 11 each. Junior guard
Aaron Lien had nine points and seven-rebounds.
The Dragons shot 47.1 percent (24-of-51) for the game, compared to 33.8 percent (22-of-65) for the Wolves. MSUM had a 41-32 edge in rebounds.
After the Dragons led by as many as 12 points in the second half, Northern State battled back and tied the game at 59-59 with 3:30 left. Clinging to a 61-60 lead with 2:50 left, the Dragons scored six points in a row — four coming from Kretchman — to push the lead to 67-60 with 41 seconds left.
A three-pointer by Skye Warwick brought the Wolves within 67-63, but the Dragons went 4-of-4 from the line in the final minute to secure the win.
MSUM's biggest lead of the first half was at the 4:19 mark after Lien converted a layup to make it 35-24. The Wolves cut the gap to 37-31 at the half.
Sevlie led MSUM with nine first-half points while junior forward
Ayob Ayob had eight. The Dragons shot a blistering 62.5 percent (15-of-24) for the first 20 minutes, compared to 34.3 percent (12-of-35) for the Wolves.
Northern tied the game at 43-43 with 13:06 left, but a 12-0 MSUM run pushed the lead to 55-43 with 9:45 left. Vaughan hit a pair of threes to ignite the run while junior guard
Arroyo Edwards added four points.
The Wolves battled back to tie the game in the final five minutes before MSUM pulled away late.
MSUM returns to action on Dec. 1 at home against Jamestown. The nonconference game begins at 7 p.m. at Nemzek Fieldhouse.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game:
Isaac Sevlie scored 14 points tonight which puts his season average for points per game at 21.1. The last Dragon to finish the season averaging at least 20 points per game was Greg Duke, who went for 23.4 per game in the 1996-1997 season.
