WHAT'S AHEAD...

MOORHEAD, Minn. – The No. 10-ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team has earned a No. 3-seed in the Central Region Tournament and will face the Mavericks of Minnesota State Mankato in the first round. The game will be played at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S. D., on Saturday with a 12 p.m. tipoff. 

The game can be streamed online at ncaa.com. Fans can stream live audio from the match at msumdragons.com with Steve d'Eustachio on the call. 

The No. 3-seeded Dragons will face No. 6- Minnesota State in their second match-up of the season. The Dragons defeated the Mavericks on Jan. 30 in overtime by a final score of 94-89. Mankato holds a 58-31 overall series record over MSUM in all-time meetings. 

This season the Mavericks are averaging 82.5 points per game while giving up 76.0. They have 40.0 rebounds and 14.2 assists per game while committing 10.3 turnovers and grabbing 4.9 steals per game. Minnesota State is led by senior Jalen Pendleton's 18.2 points, 5.0 assists and 5.4 boards per game. Junior Jon Fuqua has 15.3 ppg and leads the team with 7.7 rebounds per game. Senior Snoop Viser has 1.1 steals per game while putting up 7.5 ppg.

The Mavs are coached by Matt Margenthaler who is in his 15th season at the helm of the program. 

A LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK...

The Dragons placed second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health men's basketball tournament which took place Feb. 27-March 1. The Dragons defeated opponents in Wayne State, Upper Iowa, University of Mary, and fell only to the Vikings of Augustana. 

On Saturday, Feb. 27, MSUM defeated the Peacocks of Upper Iowa, 98-82. Senior center Isaac Sevlie led all scorers with 29 points and seven boards while sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman was one point shy of his career-high with 24 points adding six assists and four rebounds. Junior guard Aaron Lien added 18 and grabbed a career-high 11 boards. Junior forward Ayob Ayob had 12 points and senior guard Evan Holt put up eight points.

The Dragons shot a season-high 50 free throws, converting 40 of them which is one free-throw shy of the school record which was set in 1963 in the Dragons' match against NDSCS.

The Dragons shot 45 percent from the field on the game, and went 8-of-18 from beyond the arc for 44 percent. The Peacocks shot 37 percent from the field and grabbed 33 boards. MSUM had 47 boards and received 11 points from its bench.

On Monday, Feb. 29, the Dragons faced the U-Mary where they downed the Marauders, 89-65. MSUM was led in scoring by senior center Isaac Sevlie's 21 points who also added seven boards. Both senior guard Tyler Vaughan and sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman recorded double doubles today with Vaughan putting up 17 points and grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds. Kretchman had 13 points and 10 assists and senior guard Evan Holt put up 12 points and grabbed four rebounds.

The Dragons shot 51 percent from the field and Mary shot 36 percent. MSUM grabbed 48 rebounds and an astounding 15 offensive rebounds while the Marauders had 30 rebounds.

In the championship match, the Dragons put up a valiant effort on but fell to Augustana, 89-76. Three Dragons – senior Isaac Sevlie, junior Aaron Lien and sophomore Tanner Kretchman were chosen to the all-tournament team. MSUM, which was missing senior Ngijol Songolo and Ayob Ayobwith injuries, was led by junior guard Aaron Lienwho put up a career-high 31 points and added four rebounds and two assists on the evening. Senior center Isaac Sevlie had 17 points before fouling out of the game mid-way through the second half and senior guard Tyler Vaughan added 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman had 11 points and seven assists in the loss.

The Dragons shot 52 percent from the field in the match while Augustana shot 57 percent. The Dragons were 8-of-25 from three-point range for 32 percent and the Vikings were 9-of-25 for 36 percent. The Dragons grabbed 23 rebounds while Augustana had 33 boards.

For all Dragon coverage this weekend, visit the #DragonsMarchOn website. 

SEVLIE, LIEN & KRETCHMAN NAMED TO NSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Minnesota State University Moorhead's Aaron Lien, Isaac Sevlie and Tanner Kretchman were all named to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health men's basketball tournament all-tournament team. 

Senior cetner Isaac Sevlie averaged 20.8 points per game in the tournament while grabbing five rebounds per game. He shot 69 percent from the field and was 21-25 from the charity stripe on the weekend. Sevlie also tallied five blocks in the four games. 

Junior guard Aaron Lien had 16.8 points per game led by a career-high 31 points in the championship match against Augie. He grabbed 5.3 rebounds per game including another career-high 11 boards in Saturday's game against Upper Iowa. Lien dished out 10 assists and was 56 percent from the field. 

Sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman had 16.8 points per game and grabbed four rebounds per game including a career-high seven rebounds in the game against U-Mary. Kretchman shot 44 percent from the field on the four games and dished out 36 total assists, averaging nine per game. Kretchman also set a tournament record, tying a career-high with 13 assists.

VAUGHAN CONTINUES TO CLIMB 

Senior guard Tyler Vaughan continues showcase his talent and climb the all-time leaderboards in Dragon history. 

Vaughan is currently seventh in Dragon history in most career points scored with 1,474. He is second in most steals with 146, the only Dragon with more steals being Blake Strouth who played for MSUM from 2004-08 and collected 217 steals. Vaughan is third on the assists leaderboard with 307 and leads all Dragons in both three-point field goals made and attempted. He is 288-of-721 on his career from beyond the arc.