MANKATO, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team fell to Minnesota State University, Mankato by a score of 88-87 on Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action.
MSUM falls to 15-8 overall and 9-6 in the NSIC while Minnesota State improves to 15-6 overall and 11-4 in the NSIC.
Senior forward Addison Park recorded 25 points on the night—one-point shy of tying a career-high. Freshman guard Gavin Baumgartner followed with 20 points and a team-best eight rebounds. Freshman guard Bryce Irsfeld led the team with four assists to go along with eight points.
MSUM shot 57.4 percent (35-of-61) from the field compared to 48.5 percent (32-of-66) from Minnesota State. The Mavericks outrebounded the Dragons 36-28.
A three-pointer from Baumgartner got the Dragons on the board as they would take an early 3-2 lead at the 19:02 mark. Minnesota State would go one a seven-point scoring run before a jumper from Baumgartner brought the score to 9-12 as the Dragons trailed with 16:12 on the clock. The teams traded points, but MSUM would go on a six-point run to take a 31-27 lead with 5:57 remaining in the half. A layup from freshman Wyatt Hanson gave the Dragons their largest lead of the night at 43-36 with just over one minute on the clock. MSUM would go into the break with a 46-42 lead in part to 16 first-half points from Baumgartner. Park recorded 13 points in the first half. MSUM shot 60.6 percent (20-of-33) from the field in the half.
Senior guard Travaun Coad sunk a three-pointer to bring MSUM's lead to 49-42 as the teams opened the second half. The Mavericks would go up 55-53 to force an MSUM timeout with 16:04 remaining. With 14:17 on the clock, Park would sink two free-throws to tie the game at 57-57. A layup from Irsfeld gave the Dragons a 62-59 lead with 13:30 remaining. The teams would trade points as a Coad layup gave the Dragons a 79-78 lead with just over three minutes to go. Minnesota State would make two free-throws to go up 80-79, but Coad would tie the game 80-80 with a free-throw at the 2:48 mark. With :45 remaining, junior guard Johnny Beeninga would sink a layup and free-throw to cut the Maverick lead to 86-85. Baumgartner sunk two clutch free-throws with :04 remaining as the Dragons trailed by one, but MSUM could not complete the comeback as they would fall 88-87.
MSUM plays at Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. to wrap up the weekend.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tonight was the first time that the Dragons played their fourth game in a row against the four teams that entered (or re-entered) the NSIC just over a decade ago (Augustana, UM Duluth, St. Cloud St., MSU Mankato).
