MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team lost its season opener on Saturday afternoon, falling to No. 16 Augustana by a 74-69 score at Nemzek Fieldhouse.
MSUM is 0-1 on the year while Augustana is 1-0. The games will not count towards the divisional records of the teams.
Impressive Debut
Junior guard Lorenzo McGhee made a solid Dragon debut, scoring a team-best 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting. He added three rebounds.
Further Inside the Numbers…
Junior guard Gavin Baumgartner had 11 points and five rebounds while senior guard Gatdoar Kueth and senior forward Joe Sevlie had 10 points each. Sophomore forward Dane Zimmer had five rebounds while junior guard Bryce Irsfeld had five assists.
Neither team shot very well from the line — MSUM was 9-of-16 (56.3 percent) and Augustana was 18-of-30 (60 percent). The Dragons had a 38-34 edge in rebounds. Both teams shot much better from the field in the second half after a sluggish shooting start.
Close Throughout the Way
The biggest lead for either team was nine points, which came at the 8:20 mark of the first half by Augustana. The biggest Dragon lead was four points early in the second half. After that point, the game hovered around a 2-4 point contest as the two teams battled to the final seconds.
A Joe Sevlie field goal had MSUM within 66-65 with 3:15 left in the second half. The Vikings scored the next five points, including a three from Jameson Bryan with 1:30 left, to push the lead to 71-65. The Dragons got no closer than four the rest of the way.
Strong Start to Second Half
MSUM opened the second half on an 8-0 run, with Baumgartner, Sevlie, Zimmer and McGhee each scoring during that stretch. That gave the Dragons a 33-29 lead which was their largest.
Up Next
The two teams will rematch at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Nemzek Fieldhouse. No fans will be allowed once again.
Today's matchup against Augustana is the latest start to a conference season since the Dragons' 73-62 loss at Southwest Minnesota State on Jan. 13, 2006.
