ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The No. 11-ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team defeated the St. Cloud State Huskies, 90-82 Saturday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play in St. Cloud, Minn.
The Dragons are now 25-4 overall on the season and 17-3 in conference play while SCSU is 12-14 on the season and 9-11 in the NSIC.
MSUM was led by senior center
Isaac Sevlie's 30 points, nine boards and two blocks. Sophomore guard
Tanner Kretchman added 18 points, shooting 90 percent from the free-throw line (9-of-10) while adding nine assists while senior guard
Tyler Vaughan had 13 points and five assists. Junior forward
Aaron Lien had 12 points and junior guard
Ayob Ayob had 10.
The Dragons shot 59 percent from the field while the Huskies shot 44 percent. MSUM grabbed 30 rebounds compared to 38 for SCSU. The Dragons converted on 14-of-18 from the charity stripe for 18 percent on the evening.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game:
Chad Walthall moved into a second place tie with Larry MacLeod for head coaching wins in program history. Walthall is 136-49; MacLeod, who coached from 1954-1967 went 136-129. Dave Schellhase holds the record with 298 head coaching victories.
The Dragons came out firing in the game as Vaughan hit a quick three right out of the gates. MSUM would take a 12-7 lead on a three from Kretchman at the 15:56 mark in the first half. The Huskies would bring the game within one at 22-21 with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half before junior guard
Arroyo Edwards would nail a triple from beyond the arc, giving the Dragons a 25-21 lead. Sevlie would hit a jumper with 2:15 to play in the first and the Dragons would get a 34-29 lead, but the Huskies would claw their way back, scoring four quick points to end the half. MSUM would hold a 34-33 lead going into the half.
The second half started out a back-and-forth battle with each team taking its turn with the one point lead. A huge throw down dunk from Ayob at the 17:30 mark gave the Dragons a 38-37 lead. SCSU would take a 58-52 lead with 11 minutes to play in the game before Sevlie would score six consecutive points for the Dragons. SCSU would lead the Dragons by as many as six before Sevlie would go on a tear scoring 10 of the next 13 points for the Dragons and tying the game at 65 with 6:41 to play.
From there the Dragons would go on a run and take a 77-67 lead on a layup from Kretchman. Vaughan would hit a huge layup with 1:11 to play, giving the Dragons an 83-76 lead. Free-throws would be the name of the game for the last minute, as the Dragons would hit six in the last minute of play.
MSUM is back in action next Friday and Saturday for their last home games of the regular season, starting against Bemidji State.
