LANCASTER, Texas – The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team led by three at halftime but Southern Arkansas rallied in the second half to take an 87-72 win over the Dragons in nonconference action Saturday in Lancaster, Texas.
MSUM is now 0-2 on the young season while Southern Arkansas is 1-1.
Senior guard Tanner Kretchman is now tied with current Dragon assistant coach
Jordan Riewer with 471 career assists. Kretchman's next assist will set the all-time record as he finished with two during Saturday's game.
Kretchman paced the Dragons with 19 points. Junior guard Travaun Coad had 15 points, four assists and six rebounds while junior forward Addison Park had 13 points. Sophomore guard Johnny Beeninga contributed 12 points and three assists.
MSUM shot 40.4 percent (23-of-57) for the game, including 31.3 percent (10-of-32) from three. Southern Arkansas shot 45.1 percent (32-of-71) and outrebounded the Dragons 50-32.
A three-pointer by junior guard A.J. Nywesh with 34 seconds left in the first half gave the Dragons a 41-38 lead going into halftime. Coad had 11 first-half points for MSUM while Kretchman had 10.
Sophomore guard Evan Hines buried a three-pointer at the 17:12 mark of the second half to give the Dragons their largest lead at 48-43.
Southern Arkansas went on a 19-6 run over the next seven minutes to take a 62-54 lead with a little over 10 minutes left. Kretchman hit a three-pointer to make it 65-60, but the Muleriders scored the next 13 points to stretch the lead to 18 points and MSUM was unable to get closer than 13 the rest of the game.
After shooting 52 percent in the first half, MSUM shot just 31.3 percent (10-of-32) in the second half.
MSUM makes its regular-season home debut on Friday at the Microtel Classic. The Dragons will face Northern Michigan at 7 p.m. after Southwest Minnesota State plays Michigan Tech at 5 p.m.
