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WHAT'S AHEAD...

MOORHEAD, Minn. – The No. 11-ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team hits the road this weekend for its final road-stand of the regular season. The Dragons will travel to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents in Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State University. 

The games will also be broadcast live online at msumdragons.com with Dragon broadcaster Steve d'Eustachio on the call.

Friday evening MSUM will take on the Bulldogs of Duluth in an 8 p.m. matchup. The 15-9 (11-7 NSIC) Bulldogs are coached by Matt Bowen who is in his fourth season at Minnesota Duluth. Duluth is averaging 81.5 points per game while giving up 81.0 ppg. They have 35.8 rebounds, 11.1 assists, and 3.1 blocks per game this season. The Bulldogs are led by senior guard Pierre Newton's 20.5 points and 7.1 boards per game while senior guard Taylor Lavery has 17.5 points and 1.0 steals per game. Senior forward Brendon Pineda has 15.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this year. Earlier this year, the Dragons bested the Bulldogs 90-80. The Bulldogs currently hold a 75-36 series lead over the Dragons in all-time meetings. 

Saturday evening the men will star in a 6 p.m. game against Matt Reimer's St. Cloud State Huskies. The Huskies are currently 11-13 on the season and 8-10 in the NSIC. In their first meeting this year, the Dragons defeated the Huskies, 77-64, however, the Huskies hold an 80-42 series lead over the Dragons. This season, SCSU is putting up 83.5 points per game while allowing 80.6. They are shooting 46 percent from the field and have 37.6 rebounds and 16.6 assists per game.  The Huskies are led by junior guard Scottie Stone's 19.7 points per game while redshirt-freshman guard Gage Davis has 19.0 points and 7.7 boards per game. Junior guard Mark Hall leads the team in assists with 3.0 and adds 8.6 points.

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK...

Last weekend, the Dragons split, defeating Wayne State by a score of 84-72 but falling to No. 1-ranked Augustana, 94-86. 

On Friday night, senior center Isaac Sevlie led all scorers with 23 points, six rebounds and five blocks while sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman added 13 points and six assists. Senior guard Tyler Vaughan had 12 points and a career-high 10 assists and junior guard Ayob Ayob added 11 points and a block. Senior guard Ngijol Songolo put up 10 points and had six boards while junior forward Aaron Lien gave the Dragons eight points and five rebounds.

MSUM shot 58.8 percent from the field on the game while Wayne State shot 43.3 percent. The Dragons and Wayne State each grabbed 31 boards while Dragons converted 10 second chance points. MSUM had six blocks and eight steals and received 18 points from the bench. Wayne State committed 14 turnovers and got 22 bench points.

Saturday evening brought the No. 1-ranked Augustana Vikings to Nemzek Fieldhouse and in a matchup of top 10-ranked teams, the No. 8-ranked Dragons would fall just short against the Vikings, 94-86 in front of 2,237 fans. During the game, Lien would surpass 1,000 points on his career. MSUM was led by senior center Isaac Sevlie's 22 points and three blocks, while sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman contributed 20 points. Senior guard Tyler Vaughan added 15 points, four rebounds and four steals while senior guard Ngijol Songolo put up 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.

It was the battle of the big men as MSUM had 30 points in the paint and Augie had 26. Augie's Daniel Jansen, co-Preseason Player of the Year with MSUM's Sevlie, had 25 points.

The Dragons shot 57 percent from the field while the Vikings shot 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc. The Dragons would commit 11 turnovers and the Vikings would convert, scoring 14 points off of turnovers. MSUM grabbed 29 boards and Augie had 32 rebounds.

Junior guard Aaron Lien surpassed 1,000 points on his career with his play last weekend. Lien scored 17 points over two games and added four assists and eight boards. 

Lien Reaches 1,000

Lien joins the ranked of just 29 Dragons before him. In the history of Minnesota State University Moorhead, only 30 Dragons have reached 1,000 points on their career. The current Dragon team is host to those 30 Dragons. Senior guard Tyler Vaughan is currently eighth on the all-time scoring list with 1,363 points while senior center Isaac Sevlie is 20th with 1,213 total points.