DULUTH, Minn. – The No. 11 Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team has clinched the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division title for the third straight year by defeating the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, 75-71 on Friday night in Duluth, Minn.
 

The Dragons are now 24-4 on the season and 16-3 in the NSIC. Minnesota Duluth is 15-10 overall and 11-8 in the conference.
 

Senior center Isaac Sevlie led the Dragons with 25 points including going 19-of-21 from the charity stripe. Junior guard Aaron Lien had 14 points and five boards while sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman added 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Tyler Vaughan and junior forward Ayob Ayob had nine points apiece for the Dragons.
 

MSUM shot 35 percent from the field and 85 percent from the free throw line, going 29-of-34. The Dragons grabbed 39 boards compared to 35 for the Bulldogs.
 

The game was tied early on at 11 before Kretchman nailed a three from beyond the arc, giving MSUM a 14-11 lead with 13:42 to play in the half. Threes from Ayob and Kretchman would give the Dragons a 23-15 lead with 8:19 to play in the first half. Duluth would go on a 7-2 run before a pair of free throws from Sevlie would stunt the run and give MSUM a six point lead at 29-23 with 6:03 left in the first half. Lien would hit a jumper with just over a minute to play in the half, giving the Dragons a 40-32 lead, however, the Bulldogs would answer with a jumper of its own, narrowing the lead to six going into the half.
 

The Bulldogs started the second half hot, tying the game at 42 with 16:08 to play before Vaughan hit a clutch three boosting the Dragons to a 45-42 lead with 15 minutes to play. Sevlie would grab a Vaughan miss and lay it in, giving MSUM a 47-45 lead with just over 13 minutes left to play in the half. With 9:35 to play the Bulldogs would take their first lead of the second half at 56-53, but the Dragons would respond, taking the lead at 60-59 with a pair of free throws from Vaughan with seven minutes to play. Sevlie would lay it in with just under four minutes to play, giving the Dragons a 67-63 lead.
 

Duluth would tie the game again, but a monster three from Ayob gave the Dragons a 73-69 lead with 1:21 to play in the game. A pair of free-throws from Kretchman with 26 seconds left would seal the victory for the Dragons.
 

The Dragons are back in action tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. at St. Cloud State.
 

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tonight marks the fourth time in history of the program that the Dragons have won at least two dozen games in a season:

-          1970/1971 (24-2)

-          1981/1982 (24-7)

-          2014/2015 (35-4)

-          2015/2016 (24-4)