MOORHEAD, Minn. – Senior guard Tanner Kretchman became the new career assist leader at Minnesota State University Moorhead in the Dragon men's 84-69 win over Northern Michigan at the Microtel Classic at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.
 
MSUM is now 1-2 overall while Northern Michigan fell to 2-1. In the game earlier in the day, Southwest Minnesota State defeated Michigan Tech, 65-52.
 
Kretchman finished with a game-high 23 points and added three assists. He now has 474 career assists, three ahead of second-place Jordan Riewer.
 
Sophomore guard Evan Hines had a big game with career highs of 18 points and 14 rebounds, which was his first career double dobule. Sophomore guard Johnny Beeninga had 12 points while sophomore forward Matt Anderson had 10 points and two blocks.
 
MSUM shot 57.1 percent (31-of-55) for the game compared to 42.9 percent (27-of-63) for the Wildcats. MSUM outrebounded NMU 36-32.
 
The Dragons led by as many as nine in the first half and took a 39-33 lead into halftime.  Hines had 11 first-half points while Kretchman had 10.
 
Northern Michigan came back to tie the game at 52-52 but MSUM went on a 17-4 run over the next four minutes to build a 69-56 lead. Six different Dragon players scored during that run, led by Hines with seven points. The Wildcats got no closer than 10 the rest of the night.
 
Junior forward Addison Park had six points and six rebounds for MSUM.
 
The Dragons host Michigan Tech at 4 p.m. on Saturday to close out the Microtel Classic. Northern Michigan faces SMSU at 2 p.m.
 
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: With tonight's win, the Dragons avoided losing their third straight regular season non-conference game since falling short at Minnesota Duluth, at the University of South Dakota and at Mayville St. in December, 2006.