MOORHEAD, Minn.—The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team battled back from a 12-point halftime deficit to take the lead in the second half but Minnesota Duluth prevailed in a 77-70 win Friday night at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead.

This was the first meeting between the two teams this year. The Dragons will take on the Bulldogs on the road for their second matchup on Feb. 15.

The Dragons fall to 11-8 overall and 7-6 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Minnesota Duluth improves to 15-4 overall and 10-3 in the NSIC.

MSUM shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the field and 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from beyond the arc compared to 45.6 percent (26-of-57) from the field and 40.9 percent (9-of-22) from three for the Bulldogs.

Sophomore guard Gavin Baumgartner scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Off the bench, junior forward Joe Sevlie scored 14 points 5-5 from the field, while sophomore guard Bryce Irsfeld scored 12 points. Junior forward Kaedrick Williams had 11 points and eight rebounds. Freshman forward Dane Zimmer scored eight points and led the Dragons on the glass with 11 rebounds.

The first half started out tightly contested, with the Dragons down just two thanks to a Zimmer layup. The Bulldogs went on a 7-0 scoring run to open their lead. Minnesota Duluth kept the pressure on, and the Dragons found themselves down 43-31 going into the half. With 7:37 to play in the second half, a layup by Sevlie cut the Bulldog lead to just four points. A three-point play by senior guard Johnny Beeninga capped off a 10-0 scoring run for the Dragons, and tied the game at 62-62. UMD answered with a quick layup, but a Baumgartner three the next possession gave the Dragons the lead with 5:50 to play.

MSUM was within 69-68 and had two chances to take the lead but missed, and UMD converted a bucket to make it 71-68 with 1:33 left.

The Bulldogs iced the game from the free-throw line, hitting 6-of-6 foul shots in the final 58 seconds to secure the win.

Beeninga finished with five points and team-high five assists.

The Dragons will look to bounce back at home on Saturday as they take on St. Cloud State at 5:30 p.m.

Note: Senior Johnny Beeninga was honored prior to the game for scoring his 1,000th point earlier this month. Head Coach Chad Walthall was also honored after earning his 200th win at MSUM at Bemidji State earlier this month.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The last time the Dragons swept two teams on the road only to get beat at home was twice in the 2016/2017 season. The Dragons won at Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji St. Dec. 9 and 10 of 2016, only to come home and drop a 118-177 double-overtime loss to Northern State. That squad also won its final two games in that regular season at St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth before losing 86-78 to Concordia St. Paul in the first round of the NSIC tournament in Moorhead.