MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with a 75-65 home win over Northern State in action Tuesday night at Nemzek Fieldhouse.
 
The Dragons are now 5-3 overall and 1-0 in the NSIC while the Wolves fell to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.
 
Sophomore forward Dane Zimmer had his third double-double of 2021-22 and his third in the last four games. He finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Junior guard Lorenzo McGhee had 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting while junior guard Bryce Irsfeld had 11 points.  Junior guard Gavin Baumgartner had four assists.
 
MSUM —which led the whole way and never trailed -- shot 61.7 percent (29-of-47) from the field while holding the Wolves to 35.9 percent (23-of-64) from the field.
 
MSUM opened on 23-6 run over the first 14-plus minutes as the defense held the Wolves to 3-of-19 shooting from the field to open the game. Irsfeld had six points during the opening run while McGhee had five.
 
The Wolves cut the lead to 32-24 at halftime. They climbed within 46-45 with 12:18 left but the Dragons responded with a crucial 9-0 run, which included a three from McGhee, to push the lead to 55-45.
 
The Wolves were within 69-63 in the final minute, but Baumgartner drained a three from the top of the key to push the lead back to nine and the Wolves got no closer.

MSUM will host a pair of nonconference games this weekend, starting with Winona State at 1 p.m. on Friday.
 
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game
In the last four seasons, tonight marks only the second time the Dragons have played Northern St. in Nemzek Fieldhouse:
--> 2020/2021 - The two-game series was at Northern St. (due to Covid-19)
--> 2019/2020 - The Dragons played the Wolves in Nemzek and won 81-74 on Nov. 30, 2019
--> 2018/2019 - The home game was played on Concordia College's campus due to graduation; the Dragons won 71-69 on Dec. 19, 2018